The Obama administration joined that fight,throwing millions of dollars into the effort to get cities to equip officers with body cams as fast as possible, to provide transparency and safeguards for citizens involved in police stops...
https://www.themaven.net/bluelivesmatte ... 3pA?full=1The result? A new report from The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said that bodycams pose a “threat to civil rights.”
The report, “The Illusion of Accuracy: How Body-Worn Camera Footage Can Distort Evidence," was released on Tuesday, according to Newsweek.
A big concern listed in the report is an officer's ability to watch the footage whenever they want, including before they write incident reports.
“Unrestricted footage review places civil rights at risk and undermines the goals of transparency and accountability," Vanita Gupta, current leader of the Leadership Conference, said,
The bottom line is simple...since the officer can watch the video prior to writing their report...reports have become more accurate and defense lawyers have little to attack the officers recollection on...
What they want is the officer to write the report based on memory...after a tense event...then use the video to tear the officer apart...and that’s just not happening...
Some policing experts, such as Lance LoRusso, disagree.
LoRusso, a former police officer and current Atlanta attorney who represents police officers, said that police officers should view the body-cam footage before writing a report.
"This specter that every time an officer looks at the video they’re going to lie and adapt their statement just is infuriating because we want the officers to write the most accurate report they can,” he said.
Since one major purpose of bodycam footage is to keep all parties involved honest and “transparent,” the Leadership Conference’s one-sided approach doesn’t make any sense.
