Ferguson Pledges to Look Into Dash, Vest Cameras for Police

The City of Ferguson has put out a statement today calling for peace and calm and "letting justice take its course" (suggestion: set a better example for the whole "peace and calm" component). In addition, they're promising to explore some changes to the department, much of which is embracing the racial component of the problem (trying to recruit more minority officers) and some of which will probably actually be counterproductive (more school resource officers means more kids getting arrested for minor crimes, guys).

But the letter does also promise to get vest and dash cams for their police forces. Rialto, California, when not making national news for asking middle-schoolers to debate whether the Holocaust happened, has made national news for making officers wear vest cameras, reducing the use of force by police and complaints against the police.

Read the press release below, courtesy of Atlantic Wire. (I attempted to access the city of Ferguson's official web site to see if they have any other relevant statements about the current situation only to get a notification that the site is not available).

City of Ferguson

Comments

[Troglodyte Rex]

I could swear that the head cumstain, I mean chief of the bacon house said they had cameras already but hadn't gotten around to installing them.

[BoscoH]

2 dash cams and 2 vest cams, which he claims are expensive to install.

[Kure'i]

Wonder if they're cheaper than 10 days of rioting?

[Slammer]

"Commitment to raise funds and secure dash and vest cameras for our patrol cars"

Raise funds?

Also, the parol cars wear vests?

[Slammer]

Parol cars haha...PATROL, dammit!

[Fist of Etiquette]

But the letter does also promise to get vest and dash cams for their police forces.

I thought they had already made that purchase but they (foolishly it could turn out) had not put them into use yet.

[BoscoH]

Fundamentally, they need to ensure their cops aren't primarily "revenuers" for the city. See their budget. They get $2.5M of their $12.5M budget from tickets, including $600K from red light cameras. This is a huge tax on poor and middle class people just trying to make their lives better and likely achieves no safety benefit.

[Ted S.]

How much do they get from asset forfeiture?

[Dweebston]

Mustn't forget kickback programs and federal grants.

[Anon E. Mouse]

Yea, what safety benefit could possibly be derived from curtailing speeding and running red-lights? I'm sure those "poor and middle class people just trying to make their lives better" would be much better off if their cars were t-boned in an intersection by a speeding, red-light running asshole and just put out of their misery.

[PapayaSF]

Related: Officer Darren Wilson Suffered "Orbital Blowout Fracture to Eye Socket" During Mike Brown Attack

[Ted S.]

You'd think this would have been posted the morning after the incident.

Or did he suffer the fracture due to recoil?

[Christophe]

Man, it looks more and more like the police department isn't criminal, just criminally incompetent.

[Another David]

That's coming from a site that's quoting Christine Byers as if she were still a reporter (she's not, been on leave from the paper for months) so I'll take their fact-checking with a fuckton of salt, thanks.

[woodNfish]

Oh they're criminal all right: http://www.thedailybeast.com/a.....y-lie.html

I'm sure the press could turn up plenty more if they investigated.

[PapayaSF]

Somewhat related: Ha and Ha.

[Ted S.]

How many of them actually voted?

[Dweebston]

Of the youths? Any of them declaiming the need for an ever more expansive, ever more intrusive federal presence. In fact I'd bet most have harassed their friends about voting.

[Christophe]

It would be funnier if we weren't all on the receiving end of that.

[jmomls]

Even if they had body cam footage of Brown charging at the cop like a rhino, the rioters would have still looted, the governor would have still said it was stupid to release the footage and "Reason" would still be pumping out the non-stop anti-cop bigotry.

And how the government of Ferguson expects anyone of their fine citizens to comprehend their flowery-worded statement is beyond me. These fools can't even understand something simple like tear gas.

[Libertarian]

Right. Tear gas while standing on private property with their hands in the air. Morons!

[croaker]

Meanwhile, the looters continue to loot. Which tells me all I need to know about police priorities.

[Kure'i]

A lynch mob is terrible. Haven't you seen the old pictures of the black guys strung from trees? Simply because they were black and suspected of a crime? Lynch mobs were terrible things...

Or... wait! This is a black kid, shot by a white cop? 6 times? OBVIOUSLY the cop is guilty! CONVICT HIM NOW OR WE'LL STRING HIM UP OURSELVES!!!

Gotta love how the double standard works.

[woodNfish]

If they want to stop the protests, the cop should be charged with murder, jailed and arraigned. A judge can decide if bail is warranted or not, but if they don't usually give bail to murder suspects then he shouldn't get it either.

[Kure'i]

He should be charged with murder, or some lesser included offense, if, and only if, a judge (or in MO, a grand jury) finds, based on sufficient evidence, that probable cause exists to go forward with the case.

This is what is done in every case under a system of laws. Charges proceed based on facts and evidence, not on the outcry of a mob who wants blood, or a governor who wants "a vigorous prosecution."

And I would expect there would be an indictment in this case, since the standard for probable cause to go forward is so ridiculously low and the defense's argument is mostly irrelevant at this early stage.

[userve32]

Wow dude that is unreal. WOw.

http://www.Anon-Surf.tk