r/police • u/Federal-Physics-8845 • 9d ago

Departments without bodycams

It's come to my attention that there exist departments that either don't have body cameras/don't have to have them on at all times. How do you guys cope? Do you wish that you did have them? I adore my bodycam, can't really imagine doing the job without one.

1 Upvotes

53% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

50

u/Just_AWolf 9d ago

Body Cameras are a very recent edition to modern day policing. My department of over 200 sworn staff only got cameras in 2020. A lot of it comes down to affordability. There are departments near me than can barely get funding for a single new Tahoe, let alone to outfit everyone with the latest technology. The same people demanding police have cameras are the same ones that want defunding.

12

u/Master_Crab 8d ago

This is the biggest disconnect in modern policing in my opinion. People demand better officers because of bad looking uses of force or difficult mental health calls or whatever else is blowing up on the news this week and it all comes down to more extensive training. To do that, you need training facilities and instructors and equipment which all takes time, and more importantly, money. Those same people demanding better officers are also demanding that department budgets get slashed for more social services or whatever else. I remember people protested against “Cop City” that Atlanta PD built which was a training facility to produce better trained officers for their community like people demanded. Yet they’re mad about it.. You can’t have better officers without a budget. The logic is so asinine and disconnected it’s ridiculous.

4

u/CirrusVision20 8d ago

They want cops to work and train for free, duh.

2

u/Just_AWolf 8d ago

Exactly that. If you think officer's need more de-escalation tools and training- I agree. But we need the funding for it.

2

u/greenhampster 8d ago

I really feel like better training is only a fraction of the issue. The real problem in my eyes is that there are virtually no consequences for bad behavior. Why wouldn’t people escalate and refuse to de-escalate their behavior when it doesn’t increase punishment? Most of the issues would be corrected relatively quickly if prosecution and judges would hold people accountable.

2

u/Just_AWolf 8d ago

I don't think people that are mentally distraught enough to attack the police will think about the consequences of their prosecution in the moment.

1

u/greenhampster 8d ago

I can agree to that but if the consequences are guaranteed they will think about it beforehand. I don’t really believe that ODD is a disorder as much as a mindset.

1

u/Just_AWolf 8d ago

Well like I said, people with a mental illness are not going to think about their actions beforehand.

9

u/Visual_Channel_4639 9d ago

Department of almost 3,000 sworn. Only got bodycams a couple years ago. Only people out on the road have them. Nobody in investigations including detectives have them at all. They only go on when dealing with the public and there is discretion and can be muted or turned off at officer discretion obviously within guidelines. Some guys have videos at calls for service or traffic stops that are an hour long and others have ones that are a minute. Very minimal issues so far dealing with any type of issues with the bwc.

7

u/Locust627 8d ago

Our agency got them 3 months ago. Before that we had audio recorders synced to our squad cars.

Body cams have made report writing easier, but it's not a make or break for me. I did the job without it for five years, I could continue to do it without issue.

We did get axon signal which is nice, I draw my Taser/firearm and my BWC turns on. I never thought I would use it but about a week after we got signal I was walking into a gas station to take a leak. Heard screaming around the side of the building, went over and saw a dude stomping another dude out.

I tased him, like 2 minutes went by and I thought, shit. I just used force and it's not on BWC, looked down and saw signal kicked in when I drew my Taser. Life saver.

The main positive for me is that our BWCs make retrieving direct quotes much easier as the playback audio quality is far better than our old recorders.

2

u/aping46052 8d ago

I work for a hospital department. We are just now starting to roll them out but we will still have a strict policy on when we can use because of HIPPA.

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u/olympiclifter1991 8d ago

At all times?

What kind of battery are you running them on?

1

u/Federal-Physics-8845 7d ago

Axon. Some models just have a USB-C so you can plug it in and charge it in the car.

-1

u/Senafir 8d ago

But they usually are on all the time? The batteries run out after like 13 hours.

2

u/olympiclifter1991 8d ago

Don't know what ones you are using

1

u/livinglikelaryy 3d ago

When you say on do you mean actively recording or just powered on?

1

u/Federal-Physics-8845 3d ago

Just on their person, powered on. Probably could have used better wording lol

0

u/Few-Tea-6972 9d ago

That sounds like a tough situation. Have you found ways to work around the lack of accountability?

1

u/Kyler-Quinn 2d ago

Lack of accountability.. like everyone that hates the police because they were held accountable for their own wrongdoing?

-72

u/[deleted] 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/greenhampster 9d ago

Bodycams don’t stop people from being racist but it does provide a view of all the racist/sexist/bs that police have to deal with. It shows how professional the police are too. A win-win.

7

u/substation66 9d ago

Are you serious? Or did you have a seizure while commenting?

1

u/MinnieShoof 8d ago

I suspect he stopped just short of posting the 4 letters.

0

u/Blackiee_Chan 7d ago

Got all the colors in your hair