Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dylan604 1708 days ago
The cops are not trying to post their footage to the socials. They want you to not be able to do it. If they need their footage, it's to prove you were being an asshat and deserved whatever happened to you. If you need their footage, it'll mysteriously not be available for some technical or clerical error.
2 comments
matheusmoreira 1707 days ago
Why depend on their footage? We need to record them ourselves. Counter their surveillance with our own sousveillance.
link
dylan604 1707 days ago
It's almost like you missed the point. The cops are playing music because someone else is recording them. That is the counter surveillance.
link
speedybird 1707 days ago
Copyrighted music won't prevent video of cops breaking the law from being used in court, so don't let that tactic dissuade you from recording the police.
link
wolrah 1707 days ago
Right, but it does help them keep videos from being spread as easily if they get taken down. It sure does seem like the only reason cops ever get punished is public pressure, which relies on people seeing the video.
link
Fnoord 1707 days ago
Its to provide a PoV from the police officer, yes. Because the PoV of the other side (whatever it might be) may omit details, or could've been tampered with. You're right that it is in the interest of the police (in general, not necessarily the police officer), but if details like sound are not available that only hurts their case.
link
joshstrange 1707 days ago
> if details like sound are not available that only hurts their case.

Unless the cop is saying things they shouldn't be saying. I think you are missing the point of the comment you are replying to. They are saying that cops only use that footage when it benefits them (that's assuming the footage exists and they didn't "forget to turn on their camera") and when it doesn't benefit them then they won't release it or the footage might get "lost". Also the police have been known to edit or post misleading footage to their own gain.

link
Fnoord 1707 days ago
'Their own gain', the police work for the public interest. If that isn't the case, something is wrong with your police force.

I get such point is popular with people who are cynical to authorities, and I get that in the context of racism in USA.

Here in The Netherlands they are always recording, and when the cop pushes it on, it saves the last minute before the cop pushed the button as well, for context.

The police are not allowed to tamper with evidence in a court of law. Nowhere in the world is this allowed.

link
joshstrange 1707 days ago
> 'Their own gain', the police work for the public interest. If that isn't the case, something is wrong with your police force.

I agree. Something is very wrong with our police force. Also, it might not be allowed anywhere in the world but it absolutely happens in most of not all places (police getting away with tampering with evidence).

link
Fnoord 1707 days ago
If we cannot keep people who are supposed to protect us accountable (even via a trusted third party like internal affairs [1]) we as society have a problem. And we do have a problem: a problem of trust, at the very least.

I'd like to think they do get caught, and I'd also like to think most cops in society can be trusted. There's dirty (and I use that word liberally) cops everywhere in the world, yes, also in The Netherlands, but the rotten apples are in a minority.

Mind you, my original quote was: "Police wont't generally use something like this as it would interfere with bodycam which includes a microphone." I said generally; I was already aware -in a world-wide context- some dirty cops might do such, or that I could think of exceptional situations where such might be warranted.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_affairs_(law_enforcem...

link
thatguy0900 1707 days ago
the fundamental problem is that the majority of good cops dont rat out the minority of bad cops, either out of a sense of brotherhood or because theyll will face retaliation if they do. The "rotten apples" saying, of course, is that a few rotten apples spoiles the whole bunch. Good cops don't just suddenly snap one day and commit corrupt acts out of nowhere, the people they work with know what they are like and what they do.
link