Another Cop, Another Knee on a Black Man's neck

[_Res Ipsa]

One of the things that should change is police policing police. All officers involved deaths should go straight to a citizens review board, with the power to refer cases to an independent prosecutor (one who doesn’t prosecute cases referred by the police). Bad behavior will continue as long as the police controls who gets to see evidence of bad behavior.

This makes sense. Police shouldn't continue to police themselves. These incidences like the one in Florida continue to increase, seemingly, or are finally getting the attention sorely needed. I am sick and tired of hearing or seeing cops physically harm and/or kill the undeserving. Thank technology for bringing these incidences to light. Mandatory body cams, always on, controlled by a citizen's review board, should be the norm.

One other thing I would suggest is that laws restricting filming of police in action should be repealed or never enacted in the first place. It should be a crime for police to confiscate a cell phone from an innocent bystander.

You probably know this better than I. The only laws that affect filming police, that I'm aware of, are those like Tucson's, that bar entry into a crime scene or an area immediately adjacent to a crime scene. They were enacted in response to self-appointed "first amendment auditors" who deliberately confront and harass on duty officers to provoke a reaction that they can monetize on YouTube. It's one of those common situations where bad behavior by a few results in over broad legislation. Are there jurisdictions that flat out prohibit filming police.

I'm completely with you on the cell phone cameras. If you think there's evidence on a camera, go get a warrant.

[_Res Ipsa]

One of the things that should change is police policing police. All officers involved deaths should go straight to a citizens review board, with the power to refer cases to an independent prosecutor (one who doesn’t prosecute cases referred by the police). Bad behavior will continue as long as the police controls who gets to see evidence of bad behavior.

I heard an interesting story this weekend regarding a situation in Albuquerque. They had a review board that was supposed to act like a grand jury and refer cases for prosecution. But it ended up mostly working to protect officers.

What ultimately made a difference was having camera footage. Probable cause needed to move a case forward suddenly became apparent when the decisions being made were on film rather than being explained.

Here's the story:

It's the segment titled, Thick Blue Line.

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/sn ... -blue-line

Oh, absolutely. I'm not suggesting that a CRB is a panacea. The structural problems with how we approach policing are pretty well laid out in the Justice Department's report on the Albuquerque Police Department. I think it's well worth reading. https://www.abqjournal.com/381868/full- ... f-apd.html

In my opinion, our society in general has taken the Pontius Pilate approach to law enforcement. We've handed them a list of problems to handle, told them "take care of this," and then washed our hands of responsibility for how they do it. It reminds me a little of Ursula LeGuin's story "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." Any Review Board must be given all the information about an officer involved death. And it should be educated in and charged with determining whether the use of deadly force was reasonable.

Not only that, we need to be willing to change the legal standard for reasonable force. The Board should be able to assess the entire encounter: start to finish. Not just the two seconds before the officer pulls the trigger. Finally, we should give the board options other than just referring for criminal prosecution, including public recommendations to fire or suspend an officer. And all that is going to involve placing limits on police union's collective bargaining.

I think body cameras help, but they aren't a panacea either. Camera footage can tell a false story, yet we tend to place tremendous weight on it. I do think universal use of body cameras will reduce the incentive to lie about interactions between police and citizens.

[_ajax18]

Camera footage can tell a false story, yet we tend to place tremendous weight on it.

Thank you for finally talking some sense.

How good are these body cameras? Do we have to digital capability to record every boring minute of a policeman's day with clear audio etc. Because I don't think the security cameras we currently have keeping track of people at the grocery store are going to cut it. And what about when the fight starts? How are you going to get any good footage with the officer is thrashing around in a struggle with the suspect?

As a lawyer, what is your opinion on the accuracy of eye witness testimony?

[_EAllusion]

Body cameras have to come with clear rules for their use with enforceable consequences if they are not followed. I've seen numerous videos of police abusing a suspect where they had deliberately turned off their body cams unaware that some other source was recording them. In every single instance, the police lied about what occurred. You'd think deliberately shutting off body cams to conceal evidence of an assault would be a serious offense carrying a stiff penalty, but - nope - it's often a slap on the wrist at most. Or, as I mentioned in another thread, body cam footage has to be accessible in order to serve its purpose. There are many instances of police departments conspiring with prosecutors to just refuse to turn over footage as evidence or only selectively release it to based on the particular interests of those departments. It's obviously of no use if police can just disappear recorded evidence of their conduct from ever reaching the public. The footage has to go to an independent party with interests clearly separate from the police department.+