Sunday, December 7, 2014
Cameras on Policemen are not an answer
We don't need cameras on policemen so we can "police the police". What is required is policemen who don't need to be policed. They would be public servants that know, believe, and promote the idea that everyone alive in their jurisdictions are "members of the public" they serve. They need to feel that the 'community of police persons' doesn't exist for the benefit of the police. They need to be "involved in mankind" and willing to serve. It is a quality of character coupled to a sense of honor, a sense of equality with he public and not a sense of superiority. Put plainly, we need moral, honest, public servants. The question is then,:"How do we get moral, honest,public servants?" You pay them better and have them work together toward that goal. And you punish, shame, and fire those who refuse to believe and act as if they are not 'special people', just like prosecutors, judges, and whole legal community doesn't look down their noses at the police. Oh, I forgot, they do look down their noses. Well, there has to be "rank". People who are classified, judged and pinned on the wall of inferiority, rebel against those who degrade them. We must give respect and get respect, but we must also hold everyone, everyone, to the legal standards of equality before the law, due process of law, and responsibility for their actions. The police don't generally do this with the public and the public rarely does that with the police. We're all in this TOGETHER or we promote anarchy.
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When a video (which I avoided watching) shows Eric Garner pleading: "I can't breathe", while NYPD cops use banned choke holds to restrain him, and restrict his chest movement, yet a Grand Jury that reviewed the Medical Examiner's report (manner of death: homicide), brought no indictment against the officers; how indeed would body cameras help? The answer is partly to be seen in the difference between police officers in the United States and Canada, and the difference in use of force complaints and deaths due to use of force, which are vanishingly rare in Canada, even considering our smaller population, and relative rarity of guns in the cities. Our police, like teachers, are much better paid and educated than in the US, and the RCMP contracts out municipal policing services to most of Canada's small towns, and lots of smaller cities, so consistent training of most police happens. In our province of BC, there is one academy where police, and other emergency services personnel are educated, so if a city has their own department, they don't have to keep up with training and continuing education themselves.
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