Delta4Embassy
Gold Member
Here's what happens thousands of times every day in America. A crime is committed out in broad daylight, but nobody was there to see it. Or if/whenever somebody says they were, nobody knows if that's true. Result ? No charges placed becasue of insufficient evidence.
At the same time, an innocent person could get caught up in something when in the aftermath, it appears like he might have done a crime. He gets arrested wrongly.
All this could be avoided by having street cameras, hooked into recorders.
I am a big fan of the TV show "Forensic Files". It is amazing how many criminals would have gone scott free had it not been for the forensic science investigation. But many criminals ARE going free right now, only because of the lack of street cameras which could catch criminals in the act, before the cops even arrive at the scene.
The Brown case is a perfect example. Had a street camera been on in the street where the shooting occured we could simple play back the video and know exactly what happened. There was no camera, so we can't. Contrast that with the camera/recorder of the convenience store which WAS operating, and DID catch thug boy Brown right in his tracks. And without that video, we would be seeing this Brown case quite differently right now.
Another example is the Carlie Brucia murder case. Killer Joseph Smith was convicted killing 11 year old Carlie. But would he have been even arrested, if not for a video which showed him and little Carlie Brucia walking together through a car wash, where Smith picked her up ? Probably not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgd0I77Rao
Given what's happened in legal cases with traffic crimes being the sole 'witness' I don't think more street cameras are the solution. But absolutely every patrol vehicle should have a dashcam. And officer-worn 'badge cams' are a great idea as well. Coulda skipped this whole Ferguson mess if the officer'd had one or both to document what happened.
Some police resist cameras, others embrace it. I'm all for it. It'll prove when officers do right, while also proving when the few bad apples do wrong helping us get rid of them so they don't tarnish the whole force.
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