Police Officer in recent SL shooting was given body cam and decided not to wear it

[uponit7771]

Last edited Wed Dec 24, 2014, 06:24 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/24/man-shot-killed-berkeley/20849045/

The officer who shot the suspect was assigned a body cam at roll call at the start of his shift, but it was handed to him later in his shift, Belmar said. He didn't immediately put it on and was not wearing it at the time of the shooting.

Also

The police vehicle was equipped with a dashboard camera, but authorities are unsure whether it was activated. Those cameras typically are activated if the officer's lights atop the vehicle are switched on.

Yeah....

At some point, without proper accountability, the peace forces in these areas will have a diminished ability to serve the people who pay their salaries

Or... maybe that has already happened.

P.S. - The Police have refused to release the original corner camera video... there were tweets about the camera angle etc last night...

If this was a clean shooting the police aren't acting cleanly so far... showing edited video and no assign body or dash cam videos?!!?

Wow

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

1. Was handed the camera for the first time THAT DAY?

Still not an excuse but a little more understanding

We need to nationalize all police forces, they would all wear cameras, all be subject to much stricter supervision and regulation.

[uponit7771]

2. Id be more understanding if the dashboard cam worked.. no body cam and no dashboard cam

... either...

Not sounding good already

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

3. I saw parking lot video here somewhere, impossible to tell from that

Who were all the people standing next to the cop car, what did they say?

Are they biased or not.

People in America get shot all day long everyday, this doesn't happen other civilized places, something is wrong

[HERVEPA]

4. Nationalize police forces? Sounds like a real bad idea.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

5. How else can you control them?

How else do you prevent a Kern County Calif sheriffs department from acting violently racist or a Southern state small town, etc.??

[HERVEPA]

8. I understand your point, but a national police force sounds very scary to me

Not that the current situation isn't, but scary in a different way.
What would the overseeing agency be? Seems like with a Rethug government could be very dangerous.

[Igel]

11. I'm not sure that's a necessary inference.

It says he was assigned a body cam at the start of his shift, but I assume that if there's a limited number they'd be taken from officers going off duty and re-assigned to offers starting their shift.

Since officers' shifts overlap, that might be the reason for being given the body cam later in his shift.

Elsewhere it was said that the body cam tech is new to the force and "training" is slated for later. This may also mean that policy and protocols aren't well in place, but it may just mean that the use of the body cams hasn't become something like a habit. As with any change to procedure, you need to get used to it, it needs to become routinized; and under times of stress (etc.) it's harder to remember to follow the new routine.

[ann---]

6. No evidence that way

[uponit7771]

12. +1, now the've admitted to editing the video that was released SOP for SL area PDs

[Historic NY]

7. It was a small town police dept...

Berkeley Mo. apparently they called in the St. Louis County Police to assist.

[uponit7771]

9. Yeap, I don't see how the SLCPD is making things better... editing out the shooting where one would

... be able to see a gun

[Politicalboi]

10. Maybe like his lunch money

They should have pinned it on him before he left the station.