For anyone who thinks Canadian cops are nicer, I still remember the G20 in Toronto. The police designated a park as a free speech zone, surrounded it, took off their name tags and put on masks, and began to beat the protesters. They tore a disabled man's prosthetic leg off and dragged him around, they took people away from cameras and beat them. Not a single cop, including the chief in charge, suffered a single consequence. And they wonder why we no longer feel sad when one dies.
I saw a documentary of G20 here in Germany and one take home message was "it's a miracle no one got killed". They were heavily insured, imprisoned without a trial and stuff. Just for those talking about "European Socialism". There is no such thing.
Recently a Toronto resident was acquitted of murdering a cop, the city celebrated and the cops got pissed and expressed that they wished the man deemed innocent had gone to jail.
Long story short, this man was getting his family back into their mini van to go home. Armed, plain clothes cops are looking for an unrelated suspect so of course they draw guns and run towards the innocent man with his family. The man panics, steps on the gas and escapes, running over the cop and killing him. He was then arrested for "intentionally killing an officer", ignoring the fact that all the man saw was two armed men in plain clothes running towards him and his family
I feel like the solution is a "taking a shit" button which flags that chunk of the video. That way unless there is some suspicion that a crime happened in that chunk of time it goes unwatched.
Just have it time limited so that every sixty seconds they get a quick audible countdown to point away from their exposed body part at the roll of toilet paper or wall of the urinal. They can't beat someone and keep breaking to arrange a fake shot from atop a toilet.
Cop walks into the toilet, closes the door, turns off the camera. Immediately exits, jumps into police car to find and beat some people they don't like, then turns around, goes back to the toilet and turns it back on before opening the door to leave.
That's actually an interesting idea. Always capturing, perhaps at half-fidelity to save wear and tear on the storage card and full quality when they activate for a call. I don't know why I've never seen anyone suggest this.
I can see legitimate grounds to switch them off. E.g. talking to a witness, or informant, who doesn't want anything on record.
It should be properly noted in their records however, and viewed with suspicion if overused.
FYI, good police actually love the cameras. They vastly cut down on false accusations, or at least nip them in the bud. It's also, apparently extremely satisfying and effective to show someone exactly how they came across. It really runs in a drunk tank hangover.
Then they can submit a formal request with detailed documentation to request payment for those times their camera is off. Still seems like a perfect idea.
I don’t think the legal principle is even that important these days. It’s more so that some people are immune to laws because no one will prosecute. It’s just power.
I cant recall it specifically, but I am sure Ive heard of a term which describes this in a legal sense - if whatever accountability that exists is intentionally blocked, its presumed to be worst case scenario
Suppose someone who isn't a cop does this and uses a fake uniform? How could anyone be able to tell if the officer is legitimate? That alone should make police departments not want to endorse such practices.
What's more likely? That we do sketchy or blatantly illegal shit, abuse our power, and having our badges and cams (measures created in an attempt to increase police accountability) helps us avoid any and all consequences...
...or people decide to buy fake uniforms and badges in any significant numbers and use these same tactics to confuse the general public...in any way that we, as a police force, actually CARE about?
Keep in mind that police impersonators would have to be impacting the police forces so much and so negatively that it would get to the point that it's not worth preserving their own impunity. That's incredibly unlikely.
clearly you have never seen dozens of Lemmings come into a comment section to spam “i personally have never seen xyz happen” unless clear evidence is presented right in their face lol