TWF 263: Kudos To Freeport PD For Wearing Body Cameras!

Greetings!

I know that this article is extraordinarily overdue, at least with respect to my original desire to get this done.  My apologies for that.  This article got its genesis in a video clip I saw in an emergency room waiting area, as well as in the recent national crisis - I think it's a crisis, anyway! - over police brutality.  In a gesture which bolstered my faith in our own Freeport Police Department even more, and as first reported by other news sources such as this CBS Article, Freeport PD has launched a program to outfit all of its officers with body cameras!

Freeport Police

Cue an article that'll be relatively short and full of praise!

Why Body Cameras Matter

It's midnight.  Our fictional officer John Simmons pulls over a speeding car with one tail light.  His body camera is on.  He pulls over a perpetrator who recognizes that Simmons has a cold.  He's not too sick to work, but he's sick enough that the perp thinks he's got a shot.  He takes a swing.  In the resulting scuffle, the perp suffers a broken nose.  He sues for police brutality, and unfortunately the dashboard camera doesn't capture what happens while he is being handcuffed very well.

The good news is, Simmons has on a body camera, and can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that he didn't, as the perp claims, get in a couple of cheap shots.

Back to reality:  We know that the current police brutality issue is primarily a case of crooked cops abusing their power by, say, shooting Black men in the back and planting tasers.  We know that this particular case, involving Michael Slager from South Carolina, only came to light because of a third party recording his murder-apparent.  If not for the footage in question, odds are it never would have come to light.

This is why I'm so thrilled that Freeport PD is going to wear these cameras.  I have no doubt that Freeport PD is a solid group!  However, by demonstrating that these cameras are not the nightmarish, over-arching burden for our law officers that so many claim they are, Freeport PD will be a small but important part of an experiment that will, hopefully revolutionize law enforcement at a time when overall faith in our government is pretty low.

So...What else is there to say?  I'm certainly a happy guy, today!


Jesse Pohlman is a freelance writer from Freeport, New York.  His website is www.jessepohlman.com, where you can check out other articles he's written.  He also publishes science fiction novels at Amazon!