Watched Cops Are Polite Cops

From Reason.com

[M]ost patrol officers are now becoming comfortable with dashboard cameras in their cruisers. A 2004 study for the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that in cases where police misconduct was alleged, in-car video evidence exonerated officers 93 percent of the time.

The same report further noted that dashboard cameras enhanced officer safety, improved agency accountability, reduced liability, simplified incident review, enhanced new recruit training, improved community perceptions, helped advance case resolution, and enhanced officer performance and professionalism. In fact, the Atlanta police officer in the Witherspoon dashcam video comes off as quite professional. He consistently refers to Witherspoon as "ma'am" and keeps a level tone of voice despite some fairly hilarious provocation.

Body-worn cameras will clearly augment all of those objectives. And it will accomplish an important democratic task as well: turning the tables on the functionaries of the surveillance state. It gives citizens better protection against police misconduct and against violations of their constitutional rights. And it protects good cops against unfair accusations, too.

Back in the day, when I was a kid, we were taught to assume that police were the good guys, but with all the police corruption, dues to PC demands and quotas set by Liberals, the quality of the people chosen to wear the uniform has been lowered. Add in the logarithmic increase in the militarization of the police departments of the county. It is a recipe for civil rights violations and the death of innocent civilians.