Comment Re:eliminates evidence (Score 1) 53
>Once the AI has written a report of what it thinks it saw on the bodycam, the actual bodycam recording will be deleted in order to "save space".
Baseless fearmongering. If they ever tried that, the defence would have an easy time getting the reports based on the original missing evidence thrown out.
It's already hard for the defense to get bodycam footage. Somehow, it often was accidentally deleted. And when it is available, the cop used the Mute button, and just turned the camera on and off in order to edit the recording. The defense is not allowed to infer anything from the missing/edited/muted footage -- the cop's word is (by law) assumed by the court to be truthful. And as you point out, if there were other cops, they will back up that testimony.
Bodycam recordings will be deleted in accordance with an official retention schedule, but anything determined likely to be needed as evidence for court will be preserved beyond that standard limit.
By this you mean evidence that favors the cop and the prosecution. Exculpatory (or worse) recordings will not be preserved. In fact, it is liable to get "lost" if there's anything on it that looks bad for the cops.
The camera footage that you see where the cops are lying isn't bodycam footage. It's coming from private cameras at the gas station or whatever, third parties. Unless the cops know about the cameras and demand the recordings, so that they can destroy them.
Luckily, we already spend a LOT of money on police equipment and storage is rapidly getting arbitrarily affordable. There's really no justification for not setting retention standards that are more than long enough to prevent such scenarios from routinely occurring without being extremely suspicious events.
They routinely occur hundreds of times every day, and the court is not interested in the rapid-deletion retention policy or how much digital storage costs. When you say "there is no justification", you are forgetting the most important justification of all: the police don't want recordings of their activities. It impedes them.
Why, I think you're a suspicious person for even suggesting that the cops might not be retaining the recordings for a reasonable period of time. And quit complaining about how much money you're spending on the police. The police Do Not Work For You. You are obstructing justice right now with your words. That's an arrestable offense. Hold Still! Quit Resisting! Stop Tasing Yourself! You low-life motherfucker.
We live in an irretrievable police state, and have for some years now. You are Guilty, and the sooner you quit resisting, the easier and longer your life will be. The America of the mid 20th century is gone, that was a dream. I would say, "Wake Up!" But I don't want to give you bad advice.
