Opposing Views – by Edward Arnold
Earlier this week, a teenager was killed by a policeman at a gas station. That policeman was issued a body camera to wear that night. He wasn’t wearing it when the incident occurred. The officer remains unnamed.
The police were responding to reports of a theft when they saw 18-year-old Antonio Martin and another person. The officer saw Martin “produced a pistol with his arm straight out, pointing it at the officer.” The officer responded by firing three shots at Martin, killing him. The person with martin fled.
After watching surveillance footage released by the gas station, the police and the two teens appear to engage in a conversation for about a minute before Martin raised his gun at the officer. The body camera could have provided a clearer picture of what happened that night.
The incident occurred in Berkeley, Missouri.
Mayor Theodore Hoskins said he was not concerned that the officer hadn’t turned his body camera on, as the police department has not received full body camera training yet.
“In the future and when we get well trained, there will be a severe penalty for an officer who does not turn [their body camera] on,” Hoskins said.
The call for the police to wear body cameras has spread to police departments across the country as a way to increase transparency with their community.
The reform change can bring results, however, it is hard to measure what good the camera can bring if it is turned off.
Source: Huffinton Post, Youtube / Photo Credit: Quantum
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/crime/police-officer-kills-teen-body-camera-was
With body cameras, policy enforcement will need to add personnel to quickly edit video footage to cover policy enforcement crimes. I am afraid that body cameras will further criminalize witnesses recording the coproaches.
He was breaking the work rules and was on the street with a gun. Not a stable employ there. No gun from now on. Other vidio looks like he lucked out on the gun call so far. But experts need come in and take a look. They may have edited the vidios. It is very bad when cops under orders can and do not follow the work,job rules. Arigent bunch to say the least. And in most jobs they would be fired if it cost a life or caused a workplace injury. So we must demand that he be fired for public safety.
The store security camera has this on video. You can see the cop questioning one man then the other man just walks up and holds his hand straight out and points a gun at the cop. One second later the idiot is dead. Good riddance.
“There will be severe penalties'”. 6 donuts instead of 8?