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posted by martyb on Monday October 22 2018, @03:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the battery-with-assault? dept.

Submitted via IRC for takyon

New York City Police Department Commissioner James P. O'Neill suspended the use of some bodycam devices "effective immediately" after one of the city's cameras exploded over the weekend.

The NYPD said it was made "aware of a possible product defect" on Saturday when an officer said his Vievu model LE-5 camera caught fire. The officer removed the device before it exploded, and no injuries were reported.

"Last night, an officer retrieved a body-cam for deployment on a midnight tour and noticed there was smoke exiting from the bottom portal and immediately removed it," the NYPD said in a statement. "After it was safely removed, the device exploded."

Investigators said "the incident revealed a potential for the battery inside the camera to ignite," according to the statement.

[...] "Out of an abundance of caution, the Police Commissioner has directed that the continued use and distribution of the LE-5 model cameras be suspended effective immediately," the statement said. "All officers assigned LE-5 cameras were instructed to immediately remove the cameras and bring them back to their commands."

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/york-police-department-halts-bodycams-explodes/story?id=58658403


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @03:38PM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @03:38PM (#752013)

    Most police "officers" do not get shot at in their entire lives. Injured officer ... as if there is such a thing. There are injured civilians but never a police "officer".

    They make you think they are constantly getting shot while stopping the criminals from killing you when in reality, they are the thugs we need protection against. It is a fine idea to hire street thugs to protect you from the po-lice.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by KilroySmith on Monday October 22 2018, @05:00PM (3 children)

    by KilroySmith (2113) on Monday October 22 2018, @05:00PM (#752037)

    Roughly 50-60 officers shot and killed every year, out of half a million officers.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/12/28/number-officers-killed-2017-hits-nearly-50-year-low/984477001/ [usatoday.com]
    Roughly 1000 civilians shot and killed by officers every year:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/nationwide-police-shot-and-killed-nearly-1000-people-in-2017/2018/01/04/4eed5f34-e4e9-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?noredirect=on [washingtonpost.com]

    Some comments:
    1. Almost all officers wear bulletproof vests and very few civilians do, so I'd expect that the officer mortality numbers are significantly lower than one might expect based on the number of times they get shot at.
    2. Officers are likely much, much better trained marksmen than civilians are, so I'd expect that civilian mortality numbers are higher than one might expect based on the number of times they get shot at.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday October 22 2018, @07:22PM (2 children)

      by Thexalon (636) on Monday October 22 2018, @07:22PM (#752104)

      One aspect of all this is that situations where lethal force is warranted and a cop is present are relatively rare. As in, if 0.2% of cops kill somebody in a given year, and 0.001% of cops are killed in a given year, that means 99.8% of cops aren't in firefights at all. Which suggests that (a) in general fear of crime is way overblown in most of the US, and (b) the cops doing what they've been doing doesn't help much to stop what's left of crime.

      The stats match up too: The overall trend is that right now the streets are approximately the safest they've ever been in the US. And yet we're still acting like random gangs of miscreants are blowing people away left and right, complete with moving far away from where we (mostly incorrectly) think crime is a big problem to spending money on fancy alarm systems that often cost more than the stuff we're trying to protect.

      Something else the numbers tell us: If we want to reduce the number of murders happening every year in the US, one of the most effective things we could do is provide proper protection for abused partners and children (i.e. helping them get to a location where the abuser can't find them, quickly), especially when trying to leave the abusive relationship. That alone claims about 1,000 victims a year, and is one of the more common situations in which kids are murdered.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 22 2018, @07:43PM (1 child)

        by nitehawk214 (1304) on Monday October 22 2018, @07:43PM (#752114)

        Militarizing the police will not help with familial abuse murders; therefore there is no money to be made on it. It will be declared that "nothing can be done about it."

        --
        "Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
        • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday October 23 2018, @01:42PM

          by urza9814 (3954) on Tuesday October 23 2018, @01:42PM (#752466) Journal

          Militarizing the police will not help with familial abuse murders; therefore there is no money to be made on it. It will be declared that "nothing can be done about it."

          Clearly we just need to get the right companies (ie, construction) lobbying for high-tech McMansions for abuse victims!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @05:50PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @05:50PM (#752057)

    Wow, so I try to start a conversation of how they make these devices safe and you turn it into an attack on officers? Good job, a-hole.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @06:44PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @06:44PM (#752088)

      stop calling them "officers", you fucking seditious whore.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by KilroySmith on Monday October 22 2018, @07:35PM

        by KilroySmith (2113) on Monday October 22 2018, @07:35PM (#752108)

        You really ought to look up the definition of "seditious". You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @12:50PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @12:50PM (#752450)

        That's what they are called because that's what they are. Grow up.