re: #133 iossarian

A body camera would not be a panacea as there are some situations that still remain cloudy even with the footage available (or that other angles would provide a more definitive conclusion). But it could provide a subconscious check on cops who realize that their actions could be scrutinized further with the camera footage - assuming that the cop cannot shut off the camera to prevent anyone from knowing what’s really going on.

In the Wilson case, it might have shown what Brown was doing - whether he was indeed surrendering with his hands up, or what happened in the vehicle, or what precipitated the stop and what happened from the time Wilson stopped his vehicle until the first shot was fired. Etc.

Use of the body cameras would also require that the PD have strict rules on how and when they could release footage (not just snippets, but the entire footage of an incident from start to finish), appropriate protection of identities of parties who are filmed but not involved in the incident, etc.