With the recent release of the video of the Keith Lamont Scott shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina, many are outraged that the footage only shows the vents leading up to the shooting and the events after it. The footage was only released after Scott’s family released their own footage, and after it was determined that a law would shield police from having to release the footage.
But this is not the first time police have been less than forthcoming with video footage regarding use of force.
For example, recently, Danville, Virginia, police officers were criticized for allegedly trying to block their dash cameras by popping their hoods, leading the department to say that it would no longer allow officers to “cool down” their engines by popping the hood.
And in Cincinnati, the police union refused to wear the cameras without an increase in pay.
“Requiring employees to wear BWCs will change several aspects of their job and regularly assigned duties,” Attorney Stephen Lazarus wrote in a statement. “The adoption of of new BWC policies will also have a significant impact on the employees’ wages, hours, or other terms and conditions of employment. Accordingly such changes are mandatory subjects that must be bargained to impasse with the union before they are implemented.”
The Chicago Police Department has also recently faced controversy over officers failing to turn their cameras on, with police union president Dean Angelo saying that it wasn’t “second nature” to turn it on.
With police around the country being hit with accusations of editing footage, destroying footage, turning off cameras and destroying cameras, the question remains: how can we hold police accountable when even the cameras designed to keep us safe are being circumvented?