As a law enforcement officer, I have to say that I’ve been very pleased with the TASER as a less-lethal weapon. In particular, I found that displaying the arc with an X2 was very effective at de-escalating conflicts where verbal tactics had failed.
However, I’ve recently moved into a position where I am required to use on of your body cameras. Our Chief recently made the statement in a training that “if it’s not on camera, it didn’t happen.” Cameras can be very helpful in some cases but I feel that they also contribute to an erosion of public trust. No video can show the full picture of an incident and it allows for “armchair quarterbacking.” Graham v Conor specifically states that “a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight." How do you feel about body cameras being used in direct conflict of that principle?
leanonymous22946 karma
As a law enforcement officer, I have to say that I’ve been very pleased with the TASER as a less-lethal weapon. In particular, I found that displaying the arc with an X2 was very effective at de-escalating conflicts where verbal tactics had failed.
However, I’ve recently moved into a position where I am required to use on of your body cameras. Our Chief recently made the statement in a training that “if it’s not on camera, it didn’t happen.” Cameras can be very helpful in some cases but I feel that they also contribute to an erosion of public trust. No video can show the full picture of an incident and it allows for “armchair quarterbacking.” Graham v Conor specifically states that “a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight." How do you feel about body cameras being used in direct conflict of that principle?
Let the downvotes begin!
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