Lily Hay Newman reports that the LAPD has ordered 3,000 Tasers that, when discharged, will automatically activate cameras on officers' uniforms, which will create visual records of incidents at a time of mounting concern about excessive force by U.S. law enforcement officers. The new digital Taser X26P weapons record the date, time and duration of firing, and whether Taser wires actually strike suspects and how long the thousands of volts of electricity pulse through them. “This technology gives a much better picture of what happens in the field,” says Steve Tuttle. The idea of using a Taser discharge as a criterion for activating body cams is promising, especially as more and more police departments adopt body cams and struggle to establish guidelines for when they should be on or off. Police leadership—i.e., chiefs and upper management—is far more supportive of the technology and tends to view body-worn cameras as a tool for increasing accountability and reducing civil liability. On the other hand, the patrol officer culture is concerned that the technology will be an unfair intrusion into their routine activities—for instance, it might invite over-managing minor policy violations. "In addition to these new Taser deployments, we plan to issue a body-worn camera and a Taser device to every officer," says Police Chief Charlie Beck. "It is our goal to make these important tools available to every front line officer over the next few years."
(Score: 2) by tathra on Monday January 12 2015, @12:17AM
how does that work? "all cops should wear cameras all the time" is not the same as "cameras should be everywhere all the time". they're not even in the same ballpark. the only time i ever see cops is when they drive past; i don't think i've ever seen a cop walking a beat during my entire life, so police presence isn't really a thing, so i really don't see how you can say the two quoted statements could be the same. if cops actually did walk beats, then sure, cops would act as mobile surveillance cameras, but right now the only time cops leave their vehicles is to harass/murder innocent people and write their quotas of speeding tickets.