Posted on 12/02/2014 7:05:40 AM PST by Kaslin
In the immediate aftermath of Michael Brown's shooting, before we learned that he had not been shot in the back, that he had not had his hands up, that he had, in fact, attempted to grab Officer Wilson's gun, I wrote in favor of requiring more police to wear body cameras. Assuming nothing about Wilson's guilt or innocence, I wrote, "Cameras cannot repeal aggression, bias, rage or stupidity -- but they can certainly diminish them. And with cameras, justice for the guilty -- cop or civilian -- is more attainable."
In the wake of the grand jury's decision not to indict Wilson, Brown's parents have called for police to wear body cameras. I remain in favor, but the outright denial displayed by so many opinion leaders in this case makes me doubtful that even video evidence would be enough to calm the next storm if the victim of violence is black and the perpetrator white.
There was video evidence in this case: the convenience store robbery and strong-arming of the owner. Any fair-minded person would concede that while the footage didn't prove that Brown attacked Wilson a few minutes later, it did severely undermine the legend that was being spun of Brown as a "gentle giant." Yet most commentators on the left either ignored the store footage or suggested it was irrelevant. Missouri's governor denounced the release of the video as a form of character assassination.
For reasons best known to themselves, Ferguson authorities chose to withhold Wilson's account of the fatal encounter for many weeks. Arguably, this silence permitted the legend of a brutal, unprovoked attack on an "unarmed black man" to proliferate more than it otherwise might have.
Still, by October, word had leaked to a number of news organizations about the autopsy reports (there were three) on Brown's body. The reports proved conclusively that Brown was not shot in the back, did not have his hands up and had been shot at close range in one hand (consistent with Wilson's story about a struggle for his gun in the patrol car). He also had enough THC in his body to cause hallucinations.
Again, fair-minded people, presented with this evidence, would give Wilson a hearing.
Finally, in the weeks leading up to the grand jury's decision, reports surfaced that multiple African-American eyewitnesses corroborated Wilson's account of the events that day in their testimony. There was a bullet hole in the police car. Brown's DNA was found inside the police car and on Wilson's body.
Lovers of the racist-cop narrative swatted these inconvenient facts away, noting that there was "conflicting testimony." Well, yes. But the testimony of those whose accounts were at variance with the forensic evidence -- such as those who testified that Brown's hands were over his head when he was killed -- is not as trustworthy as that of those whose testimony was consistent with the other evidence.
So who really failed Brown? The "system" that refused to railroad an innocent cop to appease the mob, or the aggrieved parents themselves?
One must sympathize with parents who have lost a child. The image of Lesley McSpadden's tears is piteous. But her refusal to face reality is also documented. Responding to Wilson's interview, she said, "I don't believe a word of it. I know my son far too well. He would never (attack a cop), he would never provoke anyone to do anything to him, and he would never do anything to anybody." But we have video footage of what happened at the convenience store. Doesn't that count as provoking someone?
Imagine if footage surfaced from a security camera or cellphone somewhere of Wilson making a racist remark. Would those who stoutly deny that the convenience store video tells us anything relevant about Brown say the same? Of course not. The outcry would shake the rafters. In America today, not all evidence is created equal.
I'm still for cameras on cops. Some police officers abuse their authority, and cameras would diminish that. In other circumstances, the video would provide police with proof that their actions were justified.
But we cannot imagine that body cameras will solve the "Ferguson problem." Too many are too invested in the white racism morality play to let facts -- even videotaped facts -- get in the way.
Solve? No. Greatly reduce? Yes. It’s working in other places, that neutral view removes a lot of doubt.
Precisely.
The whole thing is a canard.
They just would ignore the evidence.
And even if it can’t be proven altered,
they’ll continue to say it is.
I have been told by both criminal prosecutors and defense attorneys that because of police car video systems, DUI prosecutions are down, but the conviction rate is up. LEO can’t lie about what happened and as result, prosecutor are less likely to prosecute a bad arrest. On the other hand, defendants are more likely to plead guilty when the videotape shows them staggering and slurring their way through the field sobriety test.
In the big picture, body cams will make absolutely NO difference. There already were videos that recorded the violent Michael Brown minutes before he was shot.
That video did not make one iota of difference. The media is acting like it is a mystery what happened. It is not!
If the Wilson had a camera that recorded exactly what happened, the race baiters just would have ignored this particular instance, and would have found one where a black man was killed and the cop’s camera view was not aimed in the right direction.
The race baiters and liars only need to find one instance in the entire USA where the body camera video is not clear, and they have their next victim.
And even if the views are clear and conclusive, Sharpton and his ilk will claim the footage was “tampered with.”
No.
The video will simply be edited to show what the left wants, just like in the Rodney King arrest.
If physical evidence did not convince them, why would video evidence convince them? It’s not about right or wrong. They can’t make a go of it and they want to blame someone.
Body cameras will not make a shred of difference because these people do not care about the facts.
Haters gonna hate, no matter the facts.
I wonder if Sharpton bought a lot of shares in TASR the other day.
Expert testimony, witnesses that corroborate what happened, and a grand jury that competently looked at the evidence, didn’t seem to matter to these morons.
Actual camera footage will just invite a whole new level of crazy fools to double-down on the stupid narratives they concoct to defend thugs.
That is what the grand jury testimony proved.
But to liars, truth matters not.
I am beginning to think that Blacks just despise being Black, it must be true. They hate the way they live, want what's yours and all because you are lighter skinned than they are.
They must truly want to be WHITE, as did Michael Jackson. The black/white marriages is to produce whiter.
There is no end to this insanity, and it has only just begun.
The only ones making money on all this is the MEDIA, everyone else looses, but it is a story, which they proudly report back to us just what they created.
. Sort of like picking on ones sibling, saying "Are you Mad Yet?". Keeping it up until "yes,I am mad", not because of the picking on, but because you keep asking that stupid question. Now we have the fight.
Guess who is going to get punished......yep, the one who was originally picked on for getting mad. Now we that the story for print........
How will body cameras stop thug criminals from robbing convenience stores or stop ferals from “rioting” and destroying others’ property? This is complete BS from an anti-American traitor, Clown Prince nobama. Mainly, this degenerate is creating a crisis which he then uses to usurp local control. Has he been arrested yet for his many crimes?
The answer is no. The reason I say that is because there will not always be a clear camera angle of whatever is happening.
In this case, with the physical confrontation which happened, the camera would have been bouncing around. So the camera image would not have been clear. Also, assuming the camera is on the front of a policeman’s shirt, or lapel, pointing outward, the struggle for the gun which happened between Brown and Wilson would not have been shown on camera at all.
Unless the camera is at the best angle to record an entire encounter between cops and suspects, there will always be room for complaints that the camera didn’t show the entire incident, or complaints that the camera angles give a misleading view of what happened.
And if camera views of an incident are unclear or inconclusive or an entire incident is not recorded, then Sharpton and his ilk will still bitch about racism anyway.
Good summary.
To me this is as much about giving lawyers another piece of evidence to nit pick through, take snippets of, and convict in the court of public opinion, before having to face the reality that in many cases the police are protecting the rest of the population from thugs.....
The body cameras are not being put in place to protect the cops or the truth. They will never be used to help a cop or a white person with the truth.
They will be misused for the benefit of a certain group: black thugs. And if the evidence contained on the camera will show a belligerent black thug asking for trouble, the camera evidence either will not be used at all or will be twisted to focus on the microagressions made by the racist cop.
I remember during the Rodney King incident, a videotape surfaced showing LAPD officers using force to arrest Mr. King.
Unfortunately, not caught on tape was the high speed pursuit and the events leading up to the arrest, including King resisting arrest and out of control and strung out on PCP and acting very aggressively before he was eventually subdued.
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