All Cops Should Wear Video Cameras

The folks over at the millennial generation news
site, News.Mic are reporting on how
requiring police to wear video cameras has dramatically reduced
violence and complaints against cops in Rialto,
California: 

Take the city of Rialto, California, for instance.
In February 2012, the city’s 70 police officers had to take
part in a controlled study, obligating them to wear a tiny camera
that filmed all their interactions with the public. The results
were incredible: In the first year of the cameras’ introduction,
complaints against Rialto police officers fell by 88%, while
use of force by officers fell by almost 60%. …

“When you put a camera on a police officer, they tend to behave
a little better, follow the rules a little better,” Rialto Police
Chief William A. Farrar told the New York Times. “And if a citizen
knows the officer is wearing a camera, chances are the citizen will
behave a little better.”

Cities like New York,
Baltimore, Fort Worth, Oakland, and the
very troubled department in Albuquerque, New Mexico are now
trying various pilot programs in which officers wear video
cameras.

I made the case last year for mandatory cop cameras in my
column, “Watched
Cops Are Polite Cops.” See below Reason TV’s interview with
Seattle ex-cop and founder of the police video company Vievu Steve Ward about the benefits of
officer-worn cameras.