(1st UPDATE) The cop wearing the body cam says he forgot to turn it on, according to the Navotas police chief. The PNP deployed body cams in 2021 to make operations transparent.
"It turns out that the police officer who was wearing the body cam didn’t turn it on during the operation. That’s why I am also ordering an investigation on him." Jemboy Baltazar, mistaken for a suspect, was shot dead on August 2 after jumping off a boat in Barangay NBBS Kaunlaran.
When this was first announced as some kind of breakthrough in preventing police abuses, most people correctly predicted that the bodycams will be turned off or unavailable when needed. They weren't wrong.
Until we get to a point that action cams can run on battery for more than 24 hours during which only the supervisor has access to opening the cam and charging it, these cops have plausible deniability.
The bodycam pc for my local sheriff's office is an area accessable to anyone who can get past the lobby and the password is one of the top 3 "never use" passwords. The problem is much deeper in many locations.
As with a lot of things that happened during the duterte administration, the body cams were for show. This was used to placate people who were wary of police abuse and likely as an opportunity for corruption.
"Forgot" to turn it on. Yep, that sounds very convincing. Maybe that's why the first instinct of people is to trust cops at their word. Geez, I wonder why ginagawang panakot ang pulis sa mga bata, it's probably because they are trustworthy citizens.
Again, hindi ko nilalahat pero "rotten apples spoil the whole bunch"