Encounters on tape keep enforcement honest
Recently, there's been a buzz throughout media due to recent arrests related to the citizen's right to record an interaction with law enforcement.
While this logic may be alarming to some, the presence of cameras in some public areas has discouraged action that otherwise would have been unpreventable. Just as surveillance is being lauded in the law enforcement community, authority has been less accepting of citizen-initiated surveillance. This has been demonstrated by arrests initiated from the taping of police officers.
It's clear it me that as a police officer, I would not want someone following me around, waiting for my every mistake. In politics, rival campaigns often send operatives to trail candidates and wait for mistakes. Such action would put pressure on and disable my ability to comfortably perform my duties as a public servant.
But sometimes, it seems the suspicion and intimidation used as tactics against criminals transcend into everyday encounters with the public. As a result, footage of various abuses, some physical, some sexual, have made their way to the internet.
Historians have long warned of the dangers of a society with too many police powers. I have friends in Law Enforcement, people who are community oriented and level headed. But, I'm also aware that some possess ego, complimented with a militaristic background and a firearm.
The increasing tendency to imprison our own, only having five percent of the global population but nearly 25 percent of imprisoned people, may suggest that we're more eager to put our citizens behind bars, and liberally interpret the law to produce a conviction.
For example, an Illinois woman charged with "Wiretapping" for recording Internal Affairs officers as they attempted to coerce her to drop charges on an officer charged with wrongdoing.
She was groped, sexually assaulted, and then arrested after making the complaint. Although her tape included the evidence of being assaulted, her recording was in violation of an Illinois law against taping public officials — the same law that has allowed corruption to flourish in Chicago.
As legal fees increase, and the caseload of the judicial system does so in step, it's clear that citizens should exercise what should be a right- to document the encounter in which they are being accused of wrongdoing. Camera's don't fabricate stories.
They can't lie. Videotaping misconduct, or normal conduct for that matter shouldn't be a crime.
With great power comes great responsibility, and our public servants should recognize this and understand that just as they are tasked to watch over us, we also have a duty to keep them in check.
More Like This
Cocktails: The classic margarita
By Sebastian Lee | Feb. 18, 2021