Brickbat: That's My Story

The New Jersey legislature has approved a bill allowing police officers to view their bodycam video before they write their reports, except in cases where somebody has died. The bill now goes to Gov. Phil Murphy. Murphy vetoed a similar bill in November.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bodycam footage means that police can almost no longer tailor their reports to fit whatever facts they want to present. You want them fly blind? They are the criminal justice system's first point of contact with its bread and butter.

[Vernon Depner]

I want to hear their accounts of what happened recorded BEFORE they have a chance to review the video or confer with other officers on the scene. Any discrepancies between their accounts and the video or between accounts of different officers could be very instructive about officers' perceptions and reveal flaws in training and procedures.

[Social Justice is neither]

Sounds more like you want to treat them like criminals you presume guilty of something.

[Rossami]

Well, that's the standard they hold us to, isn't it? Will I get a chance to review the video footage before writing my statement of the events?

[Vernon Depner]

You have the right to remain silent.

[Vernon Depner]

You're hallucinating.

[mahurmusic]

Really Nice Post, thanks for sharing.
ماهور موزیک

[Chumby]

If police forces get partially defunded, are bodycams the first casualty of spending?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Nah, they can start selling commercial slots on the videos.

[Chumby]

Frito Lay toddler flashbang grenade.

[m4019597]

The public has been able to buy their own bodycams for at least a decade, disguised as pens or glasses.

Cops buy them to protect against accusations of misconduct.

They can already review the personal video they’ve collected before writing reports.

This law would just give them the ability to tamper with the official recording. That’s just dumb.

[Schu]

How is this a bad thing? Isn't it better that their reports are accurate?

[Ben of Houston]

The idea is to get their report first so any contradictions with the video are noticed.

Let's take this hypothetical
Real reason: I pulled him over because he was black
Stated reason: "I pulled him over because his taillight was out"
Bodycam: Tail light is clearly on but the driver is driving a bit aggressively
You can see the discrepancy and look further

However, if he reviewed the video
Stated reason: I thought he took the turn too fast and seemed unsteady. I pulled him over to talk to him.
No contradiction in the evidence so there's no real trigger to look more in depth into it

[Vernon Depner]

Yes, they should be required to write accurate reports. That's one reason why they should NOT be allowed to review the videos or consult with each before writing a report. Don't give them the opportunity to spin their story to accommodate the videos.

[Agammamon]

If they're writing their reports based off the footage - then we don't need them to write reports.

Send it out to an Indian outsourcing firm to review the footage and write up a report for a fraction of the cost while the cops can go back on patrol.

Otherwise, we need to see how the cop remembers his perception of events to compare with a more objective recording to identify discrepancies.

Then said discrepancies can be nailed down to innate perception errors or faults with training.

[Bubba Jones]

Because it allows them to fit their lies to the video.

When a cop lies, the video only has to catch one lie to alert the defense to trouble.

If the cop gives up the one lie that is contradicted by the video, he might get to keep the other 4.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Regardless of how this bill goes, fuck Phil Murphy.

[m4019597]

Amen. Fuck Phil.

[Dan_In_Philly]

If they want to pass a law regarding bodycams, then pass a law that mandates automatic termination of employment for a police officer to block the view of, turn off, or mute their bodycam while on duty.

[Vernon Depner]

State legislatures are not going to pass any laws the police unions don't approve of. They're as powerful as the teachers' unions.