If You Think Body Cameras Bring Justice, You Just Aren’t Paying Attention

Unlike many commentators, I’ve long been skeptical of body cameras and their ability to bring justice and accountability to the police. We’ve seen too many times how the police can invent their own story, regardless of the video evidence. And we know there are a lot of people who will slavishly believe the cop’s story, every time.

And that’s when the video hasn’t been tampered with or selectively edited to show the police in the best light. Cops control the body camera “evidence” long before the public gets to see. There are massive opportunities for police to tamper, and if the evidence is really bad for the cops, they’ll just refuse to release the video at all.

Brutal cops aren’t luddites. They’re already learning how to turn the camera off or “lose” it before committing acts of violence against citizens.

Of course, police have no qualms about releasing footage when it shows, or they think it shows, a “justified” murder of an unarmed civilian. Normally, we’d call that “jury tampering,” but we’ve learned normal rules do not apply to police. Remember this incident, where the police released a still photo of alleged provocation, but refused to release the full video? That’s what body cameras allow them to do. Body cameras don’t bring transparency, they’re just another tool cops can use to manipulate the truth.

You’d think that prosecutors and judges would be worried about maintaining the public integrity of body camera footage, and that they would work to make sure the public knows that this is evidence that we can trust. But you’d be wrong. Prosecutors and judges don’t work for you, the citizen who is worried about armed state actors overstepping their constitutional limits. Instead, judges, prosecutors, and cops are part of the same system that treat police accountability and transparency as a threat rather than a goal.

A subtle ruling in Maryland this week makes that point really obvious, at least to lawyers. From the Frederick News-Post:

District Judge O. John Cejka determined Wednesday that the attorneys could not compel prosecutors to provide them with a copy of police body camera footage.

Cejka determined that it was sufficient for prosecutors to allow the defense to view the material, but not possess it.

To the untrained eye, forcing defense counsel to view body camera footage at the police station, instead of have a copy in their own office, might seem like a de minimus burden on the defense. But that’s not really how lawyers work. Lawyers like to look at evidence, over and over again. They want to think about it. They want to have their experts look at it. If you are thinking about a client at 3:00 a.m., nothing should stop you from looking at key evidence in the case against him, one more time.

By gating the body camera footage, the court is turning access to it into an advantage for the prosecution. Courts should be doing just the opposite. They should be making it as easy as possible for a defendant to put on a competent defense. Isn’t the guy presumably “innocent” anyway?

Moreover, this sends the entirely wrong message to all prosecutors. It, again, affirms the thought that the prosecutor’s job is to put people in jail, not seek truth. We should be much, much more worried about prosecutors withholding evidence than we are about prosecutorial over-sharing.

The main argument against making copies for the defense was… “ugh, it might be hard.” I’m only slightly paraphrasing. Here’s State’s Attorney Charlie Smith:

He said providing a physical copy of all body camera footage would burden his office. The staff would have to review the recordings and obscure sensitive material, such as Social Security numbers or the faces of juveniles, he said.

“Our chief concern was obviously with the hundreds of hours of video that is currently being recorded and essentially having to screen that … and provide a DVD,” Smith said. “It isn’t so much them getting the footage. It’s more of a resources issue.”

In a criminal case, a man or woman’s freedom hangs in the balance. Sometimes their very life. How do I not speak for all Americans when I tell a state prosecutor: “F**k yo’ burdens!” “It’s more of a resources issue,” should never, ever be an excuse for a prosecutor to hamstring the defense.

Body camera footage could be used for justice, but if it’s controlled by the police-state, it won’t be.

Judge decides prosecutors don’t have to make copies of body camera footage for defenders [Frederick News-Post]

Earlier: Body Cameras Are Becoming Just Another Tool In The Police’s Arsenal Against Black People