King County Council member introduces Police body-camera proposal

[RPfan1992]

A King County Council member has introduced legislation calling for a pilot project that would outfit King County sheriff’s deputies with body cameras and develop a task force to address privacy and public-disclosure issues relating to the recording devices.

The proposal would allow the King County Sheriff’s Office to develop a program to experiment with officer-worn digital cameras, Councilman Dave Upthegrove said on Friday. Upthegrove said introducing the legislation would also start a conversation about how to balance transparency and accountability with privacy.

The idea for the proposal, Upthegrove said, came about as he watched events unfold in Ferguson, Mo., where the shooting of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer sparked protests across the country.

King County Sheriff John Urquhart said he supports using body cameras and Upthegrove’s legislation.

“Maintaining the trust of the community is my No. 1 priority, and the implementation of body cameras for my deputies will help ensure that,” Urquhart said in a news release.

The legislation is expected to be referred to the Law, Justice, Health and Human Services committee on Monday, Upthegrove said.

The Seattle Police Department’s body-camera pilot program is on hold while department officials address the questions involving privacy and technical issues, spokesman Patrick Michaud said on Friday. The one-year pilot program was slated to begin last July.

The city of Spokane is testing body cameras on 17 officers and deciding whether to put them on all Spokane officers next year.


http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/09/king-county-council-member-introduces-body-camera-proposal/

[Dr.3D]

Well, if they can turn em off to urinate, they can turn em off to molest citizens as well.

[aGameOfThrones]

Well, if they can turn em off to urinate, they can turn em off to molest citizens as well.

like this one who turned off his dashcam after stepping out of the car(video was retrieved later)?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnG4kW8xk1Y

[phill4paul]

Has there been a single instance yet in which a body cam has ended in the conviction of an officer? Let's look at the steps in which the internal investigation will be conducted.

Cop turns off body cam before committing a criminal offense.
Excuse: "Unfortunately the officers body cam was not recording at that time. Our officers have a need for privacy and the officer forgot to turn the cam back on. According to our internal investigation he was following policy."

Cops body cam catches him in a criminal offense.
Excuse: "Unfortunately, the officers body cam was mal-functioning at that time. According to our internal investigation he was following policy."

Useless.

[Mani]

Has there been a single instance yet in which a body cam has ended in the conviction of an officer? Let's look at the steps in which the internal investigation will be conducted.

Cop turns off body cam before committing a criminal offense.
Excuse: "Unfortunately the officers body cam was not recording at that time. Our officers have a need for privacy and the officer forgot to turn the cam back on. According to our internal investigation he was following policy."

Cops body cam catches him in a criminal offense.
Excuse: "Unfortunately, the officers body cam was mal-functioning at that time. According to our internal investigation he was following policy."

Useless.


Agreed but it's a step in the right direction, so I won't say it's useless. Some of the idiots forget to turn them off too, or don't have a chance to turn them off before stuff escalates. The premeditated stuff, for sure they switch off before they put on the latex gloves to snuff someone out, but when they run into a situation because they got too excited playing the Cowboy or "HERO" they don't have a moment to remember they are on camera. So those situations when they see a beating going down and don't wanna miss out and join in on the fun they may forget to turn off the camera.

You know those knuckles dragging on the floor sometimes they don't bother to reach up and turn things off.


Yet of course I agree somehow those cameras will malfunction many many many times right before someone mysteriously dies or is put into a coma.

[orenbus]

Some of the idiots forget to turn them off too, or don't have a chance to turn them off before stuff escalates.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgSfCxq0hdY

[SeanTX]

This was caught on video, King County deputy Matthew Paul shoving an innocent man into a wall -- now that man is in a coma for life, and nothing happened to Deputy Paul.

Having officer misdeeds caught on body cam won't mean a whole lot, since the citizens don't have the will to do anything about it, and the police certainly won't. Better than nothing though, at least the video will help out in a civil case, if it doesn't get lost, corrupted, etc.

http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com/999/news/img20121121110437912772389.jpg

http://media.komonews.com/images/090512_chris_harris.jpg

[Warlord]

incredible find Sean. It reminds of Kelly Thomas being beaten to death