Who watches the watchmen? The question goes back at least as far as Plato and Socrates, who pondered the challenge of disciplining their proposed guardian class. They called their solution the Noble Lie, a foundation myth instilled in all citizens that the system was just and that corrupt guardians would bring down the wrath of the gods.
If the Ferguson fiasco taught us anything, it’s that the Noble Lie won’t cut it anymore. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to. Thanks to the inexorable march of Moore’s Law, we can now turn the watchman job over to digital video. Low cost continuous recording devices provide a new answer to that ancient question.
So, who watches the watchmen now? All of us.
Local experiments in equipping cops with monitoring cameras have been a resounding success. In Rialto, California, outfitting police with pager-size body mounted cameras reduced the use of force by officers by 60 percent and cut citizen complaints against police by 88 percent. Whose behavior changed once everyone knew they were being recorded is immaterial. Cameras worked in reducing violence in police encounters.Many citizens fearful of police misbehavior have taken matters into their own hands, using their smartphones to record interactions that often reveal unprofessional, brutish, and even illegal behavior on the part of arresting patrolmen. This evidence can certainly come in handy in court for citizens facing false charges. But a citizen-centric approach is not systematic. It’s time for municipal and state lawmakers to step up and mandate the use of these cameras.
Complaints about excessive costs coming from police departments maintaining fleets of military assault vehicles are ludicrous. Once police cameras become commonplace and volumes spike, costs will drop like a rock. Besides, how many million-dollar excessive force lawsuits does a department have to avoid in order to pay for a total coverage system?
Will workplace privacy issues be raised by police unions? Of course. After all, what cop wants to be videoed eating doughnuts? But technical and procedural solutions can be developed to address this.
For example, build the camera into the badge with a prominent green light for an on duty/camera on setting and a red light for off duty/camera off. Pass a law that says when the red light is on, the cop has no police powers and is just a private citizen. Want to turn it off to take a break or go to the men’s room? Fine. But turn it on before you draw your gun or confront any citizens. And make sure the device has a tamper-proof log that time stamps every turn-on and turn-off. Require officers to upload the day’s video into a server at the end of each shift. Every single arrest or ticket issued that day has to be matched with an on duty recording of the event. If not, the charges are thrown out.
Yes, equipping police with body cameras will raise dozens of new issues and even trigger some unintended consequences, but so what? New issues would certainly be a step up from the old issue of police brutality allegations, which have been the bane of law enforcement for decades. Judges, prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers, and juries will have to work out new standards for what constitutes admissible evidence, what can be presumed if video is missing, and the like. And that’s as it should be. Sensible evolution through trial and error is the foundation of common law. Let’s get started.
Smart police forces who take community policing seriously will get behind cop cameras with a vengeance. Police supervisors will be given a whole new management tool to aid in the training of their workforce. Community organizers who don’t understand what a tough job cops do, and what threats they face on a daily basis, will be given a front row seat. Exactly what would you do if a 6’ 4”, 300 lb., stoned lunatic came charging at you?
Sure, corrupt police forces will resist, which only raises the question: What are they hiding? Nothing makes for better governance than transparency and accountability. It’s time we start demanding it.
Best of all, once cop cameras become the norm, the blame game and wild accusations that turned Ferguson into a war zone will be a thing of the past.
In any event, this technology is inevitable. If we are heading toward a total surveillance society, we should at least make sure that we are also watching the watchmen.
