The hero warrior cop is ready to get roided up, rape, and drink and drive
10-21-2015, 07:30 AM
#6061
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got compliance?
$2.25 million settlement reached in Painesville police Taser incident | fox8.com
$2.25 million settlement reached in Painesville police Taser incident | fox8.com
A $2.25 million settlement has been reached in a Painesville police Taser incident that left a man with a severe brain injury.
According to papers filed in court, David and Becky Nall reached the settlement earlier this month.
A federal lawsuit suit filed on the alleged excessive force on the couple’s behalf states police used a Taser on David Nall at his Painesville apartment in 2010. Attorneys for Nall said he suffered severe brain injury and will need care for the rest of his life.
The Nall family attorneys, Al Gerhardstein and David Malik, issued the following statement:
“We commend the City of Painesville for responding to the family’s request for a review of training. The settlement will allow the family to have resources needed to care for David and the training review will help make the community safer for everyone.”
The attorneys also stated the city of Painesville agreed to provide current stun gun policy and training materials to the Nall attorneys, and receive in good faith any recommendations regarding improvement in the policy and training materials.
The city also agreed to use the Nall use of force case as a training exercise demonstrating an extended trigger pull in the hope that similar injuries will be avoided in the future.
Painesville officials did not return calls seeking comment on the settlement.
According to papers filed in court, David and Becky Nall reached the settlement earlier this month.
A federal lawsuit suit filed on the alleged excessive force on the couple’s behalf states police used a Taser on David Nall at his Painesville apartment in 2010. Attorneys for Nall said he suffered severe brain injury and will need care for the rest of his life.
The Nall family attorneys, Al Gerhardstein and David Malik, issued the following statement:
“We commend the City of Painesville for responding to the family’s request for a review of training. The settlement will allow the family to have resources needed to care for David and the training review will help make the community safer for everyone.”
The attorneys also stated the city of Painesville agreed to provide current stun gun policy and training materials to the Nall attorneys, and receive in good faith any recommendations regarding improvement in the policy and training materials.
The city also agreed to use the Nall use of force case as a training exercise demonstrating an extended trigger pull in the hope that similar injuries will be avoided in the future.
Painesville officials did not return calls seeking comment on the settlement.
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10-21-2015, 07:32 AM
#6062
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got a coyote in your neighborhood? call the police, theyll just run it over for you:
Joe P approves of this disgusting torture of animals. His boner literally poked me in the face all the way from NYC when heard the horrible screams of agony when the officer got his boner.
Cops are seriously disgusting and disturbed people.
You know torturing animals is the signs of a mentally disturbed person right?
Joe P approves of this disgusting torture of animals. His boner literally poked me in the face all the way from NYC when heard the horrible screams of agony when the officer got his boner.
But one resident says he believes it wasn’t a dangerous coyote that was killed but rather his deaf and blind dog.
The man, who identified himself only as Scott, told CTV News his dog likely became disoriented by the weather Monday evening, which blew a gate open on his yard.
O’Neil told CTV News the animal was near her front door when police arrived. The OPP officer allegedly nudged the animal with his vehicle’s bumper. It would not move.
Scott said that because his dog cannot hear or see, it likely would not have responded when the officer nudged it with the bumper of his cruiser.
The man, who identified himself only as Scott, told CTV News his dog likely became disoriented by the weather Monday evening, which blew a gate open on his yard.
O’Neil told CTV News the animal was near her front door when police arrived. The OPP officer allegedly nudged the animal with his vehicle’s bumper. It would not move.
Scott said that because his dog cannot hear or see, it likely would not have responded when the officer nudged it with the bumper of his cruiser.
You know torturing animals is the signs of a mentally disturbed person right?
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10-21-2015, 08:44 AM
#6064
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stop calling trigger-happy trained killers when you need help.
In 2012 Sacramento sheriff’s deputy David McEntire fatally shot 24-year-old Jonathan Rose after Jonathan’s father called 911 for help with a mental episode.
Today, the family is moving forward with a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department and deputy McEntire over what they say was an unprovoked and unnecessary shooting.
Through the process of obtaining evidence for the lawsuit, the family’s lawyer, Stewart Katz said he discovered that McEntire has at least six internal affairs complaints during his career with the Sacramento County sheriff’s department.
“Deputy McEntire is the only deputy still employed with Sacramento County who has been the subject of six or more excessive force complaints since 2008,” Katz wrote in court papers.
Tim Rose, Jonathan’s father, said “He’s a habitual, serial excessive-force abuser,”
His lawsuit is one of three McEntire has faced for excessive force.
Today, the family is moving forward with a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department and deputy McEntire over what they say was an unprovoked and unnecessary shooting.
Through the process of obtaining evidence for the lawsuit, the family’s lawyer, Stewart Katz said he discovered that McEntire has at least six internal affairs complaints during his career with the Sacramento County sheriff’s department.
“Deputy McEntire is the only deputy still employed with Sacramento County who has been the subject of six or more excessive force complaints since 2008,” Katz wrote in court papers.
Tim Rose, Jonathan’s father, said “He’s a habitual, serial excessive-force abuser,”
His lawsuit is one of three McEntire has faced for excessive force.
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10-21-2015, 10:41 AM
#6067
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Cop kills his girlfriend and covers up the crime. she must have scared him.
Brooks Houck confronted Crystal Rogers about her having an affair the night of July 3 while the two of them were at his family’s farm, Houck overreacted and killed her, and then called his brother to help dispose of the evidence.
That’s the theory Kentucky State Police detectives laid out to former Bardstown Police Officer Nick Houck near the end of a 104-minute interview on July 15, 10 days after the 35-year-old mother of five was reported missing by her family.
KSP detectives Jon Vaughn and Ryan Johnson both told Nick they did not believe his or his brother’s claims of coincidence and “amnesia” surrounding the days immediately following the report of Rogers missing.
...
The detectives said the lab used Luminol, a chemical used by forensics specialists to detect trace amounts of blood during investigations, on a blanket and trunk of the Bardstown Police cruiser.
“Why would your trunk look like a Smurf if they sprayed it? Why would it fluoresce?” Johnson asked Nick.
“It lit up like Chernobyl,” Vaughn added.
“I don’t have any idea,” Nick replied. “There shouldn’t be any bodily fluids in the trunk.”
Nick said he had placed the blanket in his cruiser when he was using it to protect furniture while he was moving into a new home, and had left it in his cruiser until he could return it.
Besides the questions about the blanket and alleged bodily fluids, investigators also questioned Nick at length about the night of July 8.
...
Shortly after Brooks’ interview with Snow ended, investigators said they had video evidence of Nick and Brooks arriving together at the family farm on Paschal Ballard Lane.
According to a clock on the wall of the interrogation room, Brooks left the interview at 7:10 p.m.
The two left the farm together around 11:22 p.m., police said.
“What we need to know is why you both went down to the farm,” Johnson said.
“I can’t remember,” Nick replied. He said at other times during the interview that he did not recall them meeting at the farm at all, and if they did, it was a coincidence.
...
At the end of the interview, Nick agreed to take a polygraph test the following Monday (the interview was on a Wednesday). According to documents filed in Nick’s administrative hearing that led to his firing Friday, he later backed out of that agreement. Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin filed documents during the administrative hearing indicating Nick finally took the polygraph on July 24, and that the test indicated he was lying on several of his responses to the test.
That’s the theory Kentucky State Police detectives laid out to former Bardstown Police Officer Nick Houck near the end of a 104-minute interview on July 15, 10 days after the 35-year-old mother of five was reported missing by her family.
KSP detectives Jon Vaughn and Ryan Johnson both told Nick they did not believe his or his brother’s claims of coincidence and “amnesia” surrounding the days immediately following the report of Rogers missing.
...
The detectives said the lab used Luminol, a chemical used by forensics specialists to detect trace amounts of blood during investigations, on a blanket and trunk of the Bardstown Police cruiser.
“Why would your trunk look like a Smurf if they sprayed it? Why would it fluoresce?” Johnson asked Nick.
“It lit up like Chernobyl,” Vaughn added.
“I don’t have any idea,” Nick replied. “There shouldn’t be any bodily fluids in the trunk.”
Nick said he had placed the blanket in his cruiser when he was using it to protect furniture while he was moving into a new home, and had left it in his cruiser until he could return it.
Besides the questions about the blanket and alleged bodily fluids, investigators also questioned Nick at length about the night of July 8.
...
Shortly after Brooks’ interview with Snow ended, investigators said they had video evidence of Nick and Brooks arriving together at the family farm on Paschal Ballard Lane.
According to a clock on the wall of the interrogation room, Brooks left the interview at 7:10 p.m.
The two left the farm together around 11:22 p.m., police said.
“What we need to know is why you both went down to the farm,” Johnson said.
“I can’t remember,” Nick replied. He said at other times during the interview that he did not recall them meeting at the farm at all, and if they did, it was a coincidence.
...
At the end of the interview, Nick agreed to take a polygraph test the following Monday (the interview was on a Wednesday). According to documents filed in Nick’s administrative hearing that led to his firing Friday, he later backed out of that agreement. Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin filed documents during the administrative hearing indicating Nick finally took the polygraph on July 24, and that the test indicated he was lying on several of his responses to the test.
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10-21-2015, 10:45 AM
#6068
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cop logic: if we find an abandoned stolen car, the house closest must be non-kock raided.
https://www.copblock.org/144246/poli...front-of-home/
https://www.copblock.org/144246/poli...front-of-home/
A Louisiana family says they are still terrified after Jeanerette police officers kicked in the bedroom door of their children after observing a car abandoned in front of their home that was reported to be stolen.
Nancy Landry says she awoke early Sunday morning to the sounds of voices and flashing lights outside her bedroom window before her husband opened the front door to see what the commotion was.
He was confronted by multiple officers with their guns drawn, Landry says, and the couple were handcuffed and thrown into the back of a patrol car.
The woman claims the officers then proceeded to kick in a bedroom door where her two sons and one of their girlfriends were sleeping and handcuffed and detained them in a police vehicle as well.
“At first I thought we were getting robbed, then I saw it was cops,” the boy’s girlfriend, Erin Broussard said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Landry says the officers left the family sitting in police cars for about 45 minutes and refused to tell them why they had been accosted despite onlooking neighbors telling the cops that they had the wrong people.
The woman says she was finally informed that a stolen car involved that night in a robbery at a local Family Dollar store was left running and unattended in front of the families property.
Since the incident, the family says they no longer feel comfortable in their own home and are contemplating moving.
"I’m supposed to feel like if someone is trying to break in my house I should feel like I can call you, but now I don’t feel like I even want to see you on the streets,"
Landry said. “We don’t even feel safe in our house from law enforcement.”
The woman says after the officers realized that they had acted in error, they didn’t even offer the family an apology.
“They are over at the marshal’s office trying to find a way to cover their tracks, I’m sure, because they sure didn’t decide to say ‘hey we made a mistake,'” Landry said. “That would have been nice.”
Police say they are investigating the incident but Jeanerette Marshal Fernest Martin called the raid “appropriate.” He said if the department had the incident to do over again, they “would do things the same way.”
Landry is reportedly consulting with an attorney and is currently weighing her legal options.
Nancy Landry says she awoke early Sunday morning to the sounds of voices and flashing lights outside her bedroom window before her husband opened the front door to see what the commotion was.
He was confronted by multiple officers with their guns drawn, Landry says, and the couple were handcuffed and thrown into the back of a patrol car.
The woman claims the officers then proceeded to kick in a bedroom door where her two sons and one of their girlfriends were sleeping and handcuffed and detained them in a police vehicle as well.
“At first I thought we were getting robbed, then I saw it was cops,” the boy’s girlfriend, Erin Broussard said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Landry says the officers left the family sitting in police cars for about 45 minutes and refused to tell them why they had been accosted despite onlooking neighbors telling the cops that they had the wrong people.
The woman says she was finally informed that a stolen car involved that night in a robbery at a local Family Dollar store was left running and unattended in front of the families property.
Since the incident, the family says they no longer feel comfortable in their own home and are contemplating moving.
"I’m supposed to feel like if someone is trying to break in my house I should feel like I can call you, but now I don’t feel like I even want to see you on the streets,"
Landry said. “We don’t even feel safe in our house from law enforcement.”
The woman says after the officers realized that they had acted in error, they didn’t even offer the family an apology.
“They are over at the marshal’s office trying to find a way to cover their tracks, I’m sure, because they sure didn’t decide to say ‘hey we made a mistake,'” Landry said. “That would have been nice.”
Police say they are investigating the incident but Jeanerette Marshal Fernest Martin called the raid “appropriate.” He said if the department had the incident to do over again, they “would do things the same way.”
Landry is reportedly consulting with an attorney and is currently weighing her legal options.
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10-21-2015, 10:47 AM
#6069
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The more I read these posts, the more envious I get of these people who acted like an asshat, suffered some minor inconvenience as a consequence (being non-fatally shot / tased, imprisoned for a bit, etc), and walked away with a judgement of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
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10-21-2015, 10:48 AM
#6070
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ball biter out of a job, but dont worry another department will hire him -- they are always on the lookout for crazy ***** with daddy issues.
Cop Off the Job After Pleading Guilty to Attacking a Man and Biting his ********* | The Free Thought Project
Cop Off the Job After Pleading Guilty to Attacking a Man and Biting his ********* | The Free Thought Project
After pleading guilty to public intoxication and endangering the safety of another person, a police corporal has recently lost his job. During the incident, the officer was accused of biting a man in the ********* on Cinco de Mayo. Although the officer was originally charged with second-degree assault, prosecutors dropped the charge while negotiating for a guilty plea.
At 11:47 p.m. on May 5, police officers responded to an assault call in the alley behind a Baltimore bar called Looney’s Pub. According to the police report, off-duty Anne Arundel County Cpl. Michael Flaig was inappropriately groping the victim’s female roommate when the victim asked him to stop. After Cpl. Flaig refused, the off-duty cop waited outside the bar with another man to ambush the victim.
As the victim began walking home, Flaig ran up from behind and tried to punch him in the face. After ducking the punch, the victim successfully fought off his assailants until Flaig pulled him to the ground. When the victim began straddling Flaig in an attempt to prevent him from escaping, the off-duty cop bit him in the ********* before fleeing.
...
After pleading guilty to public intoxication and endangering the safety of another person, Flaig was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay $57.50 in court costs. As a result of the incident, Flaig was placed on administrative duty. According to Anne Arundel County police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure, Flaig left the department for unspecified reasons on September 23.
Although multiple people witnessed the ********-biting incident, and the assailant was covered in blood, the prosecution dropped the assault charge for a plea bargain. But the question remains: were the prosecutors incompetent or biased due to their working relationship with law enforcement?
At 11:47 p.m. on May 5, police officers responded to an assault call in the alley behind a Baltimore bar called Looney’s Pub. According to the police report, off-duty Anne Arundel County Cpl. Michael Flaig was inappropriately groping the victim’s female roommate when the victim asked him to stop. After Cpl. Flaig refused, the off-duty cop waited outside the bar with another man to ambush the victim.
As the victim began walking home, Flaig ran up from behind and tried to punch him in the face. After ducking the punch, the victim successfully fought off his assailants until Flaig pulled him to the ground. When the victim began straddling Flaig in an attempt to prevent him from escaping, the off-duty cop bit him in the ********* before fleeing.
...
After pleading guilty to public intoxication and endangering the safety of another person, Flaig was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and ordered to pay $57.50 in court costs. As a result of the incident, Flaig was placed on administrative duty. According to Anne Arundel County police spokesman Lt. Ryan Frashure, Flaig left the department for unspecified reasons on September 23.
Although multiple people witnessed the ********-biting incident, and the assailant was covered in blood, the prosecution dropped the assault charge for a plea bargain. But the question remains: were the prosecutors incompetent or biased due to their working relationship with law enforcement?
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10-21-2015, 10:52 AM
#6072
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The more I read these posts, the more envious I get of these people who acted like an asshat, suffered some minor inconvenience as a consequence (being non-fatally shot / tased, imprisoned for a bit, etc), and walked away with a judgement of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
Do you condone this road-rager in the news right now that shot and killed a 4-yo for no reason? because he was basically acting like a police officer, the only difference is he didn't have a badge before he opened fire after being butthurt (that and didnt didnt rape the girl first).
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10-21-2015, 12:06 PM
#6073
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I guess that's a matter of opinion. Societal norms vary greatly from place to place and time to time. In a hypothetical population group in which there was no incentive to act civilly, and no disincentive for asshattery, you'd wind up with a highly dysfunctional society with a tendency towards chaos in which life was brutish and unpleasant, and which didn't really make any positive contributions towards furthering technology, arts, etc., or improving the quality of life of its citizens.
Consider places like Mogadishu and Oakland, CA.
Some societies in the present day do impose sanctions against uncivil behavior, hate speech, and whatnot. Some of these admittedly fall towards the "totalitarian / fascist" end of the scale (USSR, North Korea, etc), however many of the more prosperous northern European nations have laws which criminalize forms of expression and behavior which are tolerated (and sometimes glamorized) in the US.
I'll be honest, I'd far rather live in Bremen or Oslo than in Baltimore or St. Louis.
Do you condone this road-rager in the news right now that shot and killed a 4-yo for no reason? because he was basically acting like a police officer, the only difference is he didn't have a badge before he opened fire after being butthurt (that and didnt didnt rape the girl first).
I would wholeheartedly support a law which criminalized being a douchebag and / or looking like you belong on Jersey Shore. I'm not a fan of being raped and murdered by random asshats on the street. If the police have to occasionally taze a few "innocent" people as a byproduct of maintaining civil order, then while not ideal, its beats the alternative.
I find it difficult to take seriously an argument which says "no level of collateral damage is acceptable, and there should be no consequences of any kind for behavior which is detrimental to the health of society." It's like saying "no level of rat feces is acceptable in peanut butter." While I don't *like* the idea of eating rat feces, we know from empirical observation that small amounts of it are harmless, and if you prohibited anyone from selling peanut butter which contained even the most minute trace of rat feces, this would have the effect of eliminating the sale of peanut butter.
I'm willing to accept a small amount of rat feces in exchange for having access to peanut butter. It sounds like you aren't, and that's just not a tenable stance.
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10-21-2015, 01:13 PM
#6077
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Does Nicholas Cage appearing in movies cause people to drown by falling into pools?
Your point, so far as I can tell, is that police cause crime, but firefighters do not cause fire (or that firefighters cause medical emergencies- not sure which.)
Any particular reason you and the missus chose to live in the 'burbs, rather than in a nice, safe area like Baltimore? Statistically speaking, Mrs. Braineack is more likely to be raped / murdered in Chantilly, where the ratio of deployed officers of the Fairfax Co. PD to citizens is slightly higher than the ratio of Baltimore PD to residents of Baltimore.
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10-21-2015, 01:21 PM
#6078
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there's two reasons i dont want to live in a city:
1. liberals.
2. liberals all in one small place trying to one up the next person to get more free stuff from those who produce/earn.
how well is it working out for baltimore to allow their police force to break the law and act wrose than the people they are out trying to prevent from doing crime?
1. liberals.
2. liberals all in one small place trying to one up the next person to get more free stuff from those who produce/earn.
how well is it working out for baltimore to allow their police force to break the law and act wrose than the people they are out trying to prevent from doing crime?
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10-21-2015, 10:34 PM
#6079
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So we've gone from "all cops are rapists and murderers" to "I'm ok with my wife being raped to death because I don't like being around people who don't hate everyone who isn't like them."
K.
Moving on, the President did something you'd approve of:
K.
Moving on, the President did something you'd approve of:
Study Shows Less Violence, Fewer Complaints When Cops Wear Body Cameras
Use of force and civilian complaints fell dramatically when officers and civilians knew they were being recorded.
Nick Wing
Senior Viral Editor, The Huffington Post
(AP PHOTO/WILFREDO LEE)
A police sergeant in Miami Beach wears a body camera during a demonstration at a news conference, Tuesday, May 5, 2015.
Equipping police with body cameras may be an effective way to improve the behavior of officers and the public with which they interact, a new study finds.
Last week, researchers at the University of South Florida released their report on a yearlong body-worn camera pilot program at the Orlando Police Department, in which they randomly selected 46 officers to wear the devices and compared them against 43 officers who did not.
In the 12 months from March 2014 through February 2015, use-of-force incidents -- also known as "response to resistance" incidents -- dropped 53 percent among officers with the cameras. Civilian complaints against those officers also saw a 65 percent decline.
The study also showed significant reductions in the number of civilian injuries by officers wearing body cameras, and of injuries to the officers themselves.
Officers who didn't wear body cameras in the study also used force fewer times over the year, though the drop-off was less substantial.
The study comes amid a nationwide effort to outfit more police forces with body cameras following high-profile police killings and instances of misconduct, which have spurred calls for improved transparency and accountability. Body cameras have emerged as a rare point of agreement between reform advocates and law enforcement officials, and in December, President Barack Obama announced a $75 million initiative to help departments cover the costs of expanding their programs.
Dr. Wesley G. Jennings, principal investigator for the study and associate chair in USF’s Department of Criminology, said officers in Orlando were initially skeptical about the equipment, with some claiming that body cameras wouldn't change their willingness to use force during an arrest. The statistics appear to tell a different story, even though only one in four officers in the study agreed that wearing the devices had any impact on their behavior in the field.
Many officers reported that the equipment changed citizen behavior and helped to de-escalate confrontations between civilians and police. They also said body cameras improved evidence collection, and helped them more accurately recollect events and fill out reports. According to Jennings, most officers didn't feel burdened by the body cameras.
“The BWC officers overwhelmingly reported that the BWCs would not reduce their willingness to respond to calls, nor would it reduce their self-initiated subject contacts when a crime had been committed,” Jennings said in a statement. “Most felt that the BWCs made them better officers."
GEORGE FREY VIA GETTY IMAGES
A Taser Axon Flex body camera and battery are seen in a charging and data downloading port. Police officers in Orlando used these devices as part of a yearlong study on body cameras.
After the conclusion of the study, two in three officers who wore the cameras said they'd want to continue wearing them in the future. A majority also said the agency should adopt body cameras for all front-line officers.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina supports this push, and he's getting help in the form of a roughly $500,000 federal grant for the equipment.
“BWCs will also improve accountability and transparency, protect our officers from false complaints, and provide valuable evidence for prosecutors,” said Mina in a statement.
Other studies have pointed to similar drops in use of force and civilian complaints after the implementation of body cameras. In Rialto, California, a study of a yearlong program that concluded in 2013 showed a 59 percent reduction in use-of-force incidents by officers wearing cameras, along with an 87 percent drop in civilian complaints, compared to the previous year’s totals.
While body cameras have shown promise in these areas, skeptics have been quick to point out that the effectiveness of the equipment will ultimately be determined by the policies that govern their use. In cities and states around the nation, for example, police departments and lawmakers are already working to limit public access to footage. Critics have also expressed concerns that certain guidelines will make it too easy for officers to tamper with cameras, use the video only for their own benefit or turn the devices into a tool for broader surveillance.
Study Shows Less Violence, Fewer Complaints When Cops Wear Body Cameras
Use of force and civilian complaints fell dramatically when officers and civilians knew they were being recorded.
Nick Wing
Senior Viral Editor, The Huffington Post
(AP PHOTO/WILFREDO LEE)
A police sergeant in Miami Beach wears a body camera during a demonstration at a news conference, Tuesday, May 5, 2015.
Equipping police with body cameras may be an effective way to improve the behavior of officers and the public with which they interact, a new study finds.
Last week, researchers at the University of South Florida released their report on a yearlong body-worn camera pilot program at the Orlando Police Department, in which they randomly selected 46 officers to wear the devices and compared them against 43 officers who did not.
In the 12 months from March 2014 through February 2015, use-of-force incidents -- also known as "response to resistance" incidents -- dropped 53 percent among officers with the cameras. Civilian complaints against those officers also saw a 65 percent decline.
The study also showed significant reductions in the number of civilian injuries by officers wearing body cameras, and of injuries to the officers themselves.
Officers who didn't wear body cameras in the study also used force fewer times over the year, though the drop-off was less substantial.
The study comes amid a nationwide effort to outfit more police forces with body cameras following high-profile police killings and instances of misconduct, which have spurred calls for improved transparency and accountability. Body cameras have emerged as a rare point of agreement between reform advocates and law enforcement officials, and in December, President Barack Obama announced a $75 million initiative to help departments cover the costs of expanding their programs.
Dr. Wesley G. Jennings, principal investigator for the study and associate chair in USF’s Department of Criminology, said officers in Orlando were initially skeptical about the equipment, with some claiming that body cameras wouldn't change their willingness to use force during an arrest. The statistics appear to tell a different story, even though only one in four officers in the study agreed that wearing the devices had any impact on their behavior in the field.
Many officers reported that the equipment changed citizen behavior and helped to de-escalate confrontations between civilians and police. They also said body cameras improved evidence collection, and helped them more accurately recollect events and fill out reports. According to Jennings, most officers didn't feel burdened by the body cameras.
“The BWC officers overwhelmingly reported that the BWCs would not reduce their willingness to respond to calls, nor would it reduce their self-initiated subject contacts when a crime had been committed,” Jennings said in a statement. “Most felt that the BWCs made them better officers."
GEORGE FREY VIA GETTY IMAGES
A Taser Axon Flex body camera and battery are seen in a charging and data downloading port. Police officers in Orlando used these devices as part of a yearlong study on body cameras.
After the conclusion of the study, two in three officers who wore the cameras said they'd want to continue wearing them in the future. A majority also said the agency should adopt body cameras for all front-line officers.
Orlando Police Chief John Mina supports this push, and he's getting help in the form of a roughly $500,000 federal grant for the equipment.
“BWCs will also improve accountability and transparency, protect our officers from false complaints, and provide valuable evidence for prosecutors,” said Mina in a statement.
Other studies have pointed to similar drops in use of force and civilian complaints after the implementation of body cameras. In Rialto, California, a study of a yearlong program that concluded in 2013 showed a 59 percent reduction in use-of-force incidents by officers wearing cameras, along with an 87 percent drop in civilian complaints, compared to the previous year’s totals.
While body cameras have shown promise in these areas, skeptics have been quick to point out that the effectiveness of the equipment will ultimately be determined by the policies that govern their use. In cities and states around the nation, for example, police departments and lawmakers are already working to limit public access to footage. Critics have also expressed concerns that certain guidelines will make it too easy for officers to tamper with cameras, use the video only for their own benefit or turn the devices into a tool for broader surveillance.
Study Shows Less Violence, Fewer Complaints When Cops Wear Body Cameras
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