At least 1,201 people were killed in 2022 by law enforcement officers, about 100 deaths a month, according to Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit research group that tracks police killings. ProPublica examined the 101 deaths that occurred in June 2022, a time frame chosen because enough time had elapsed that investigations could reasonably be expected to have concluded. The cases involved 131 law enforcement agencies in 34 states.
In 79 of those deaths, ProPublica confirmed that body-worn camera video exists. But more than a year later, authorities or victims’ families had released the footage of only 33 incidents.
Philadelphia signed a $12.5 million contract in 2017 to equip its entire police force with cameras. Since then, at least 27 people have been killed by Philadelphia police, according to Mapping Police Violence, but in only two cases has body-camera video been released to the public.
ProPublica’s review shows that withholding body-worn camera footage from the public has become so entrenched in some cities that even pleas from victims’ families don’t serve to shake the video loose.
Claim that reform will do thing.
Reform fails to do thing.
Cries of surprise from assembly.
The problem is that the reform was supposed to add accountability. But if the public can’t access the footage and police are free to “accidentally” turn their bodycams off before or “oopsie woopsie I deleted the footage” after they break the law there’s zero accountability, and therefore no meaningful reform.
are you saying police cams are useless, or that the police are purposefully obstructing justice by blocking the footage. im confused
Your second question solves the first.
No, no it doesnt. The first question questions wether body cams are useful, the second questions wether people are flawed.
If question 1 has an awnser of “yes” ( which it does ), than that means they can be used as ammunition in a case against the police or officers in question in what they did, even if the footage goes “missing”. It puts the responsability on the police infrastructure.
Incorrect.
Police are purposefully obstructing justice by blocking the footage (making) police cams useless.
Yeah and there’s an easy solution here: presume that the officer is in the wrong when no body cam footage is able to verify their story. All it takes is actual accountability and forcing the police to see these tools as aiding them in proving their innocence instead of looking to prove their guilt.
And yeah it’ll take a lot of cops in prison to click
^ exactly what i was getting at :)
Usually the reform doesn’t really fail, it does exactly what it’s supposed to do. The issue is how the reform is made or formulated in the first place.