PAX Centurion - Spring 2019

Page 16 • PAX CENTURION • Spring 2019 617-989-BPPA (2772) A s the conversation of Body Worn Cameras on Police Officers in Boston continues, including but not limited to policy language, compensation and deployment, we have come across some very interesting articles and had conversations with agencies, particularly their Unions, that already have accepted them. In the interest of due diligence, we spoke to agencies both large and small, suburban and urban. The biggest concern among the rank and file, reported by those wearing them and/or their Unions, seemed to be that Body Worn Cameras changed the way they interacted within the communities they police, or more directly how it would affect their discretion. Speaking to one Union President from a Mid-West City, who’s BWC program has been referenced in discussions, we were told the biggest thing for his members was how to “give a break” to people. They reportedly felt the pressure of having a documented, archived history of making a discretionary decision that may come back to haunt them if they ever treated someone different. They also say the angst of not being as personally willing to help someone out that they felt needed some empathy, sympathy or help was troublesome for most. The most recent attack on our sisters and brothers in the Mass. State Police are an alleged quota system demand by their supervisors. I wonder if Body Worn Cameras will mean every person will get a ticket or no one will? If you’re a girl or guy that doesn’t have the heart to hit a mother of four on the way to her second job with a citation for the stop sign violation after the “rolling stop” on a currently quiet side street, you may not want to be the cop who wants to stop that sports car heading down Massachusetts Ave. at 7 pm with no regard for traffic signals, brakes or those brightly painted line dividers. But who knows? The reality is we have a job to do. I do not believe anyone would look the other way for something like the “Mass. Ave.” scenario. It’ll be a lot harder for someone to look past or consider the totality of the circumstances in the other scenario. Officers will have internal strife over letting that unsafe driver on Mass. Ave. go unchecked, knowing, God forbid, what could happen. So, as we have always done, we will do what’s right. In the other scenario, we will certainly think about the question of how the $100+ fine will affect the family of the stop sign violator. The concern is who will be willing to differentiate between the two at the cost of someday being painted as something they are not? De-policing is another problem we hear about. Articles speak about how policing in communities with BWC programs have gotten to more of a response-based service than a proactive approach. It is reported that when Depression era bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks he responded, “because that is where the money is.” If you apply Sutton’s Law to policing, then it is simple to understand why the more proactive police go to certain spots. Not because of ethnicity, not because Who should be concerned with body worn cameras? By Christopher J. Broderick, BPPA Vice President of socioeconomic status or not because they just like to harass certain groups. It’s because the data, made up of police reports, 911 calls and experience show that is where the crime is. They do it because at every crime-riddled corner, street and neighborhood there are many great people who work, shop and put their heads down every night in the houses and businesses that make up those communities. They deserve proactive policing to make them safer. If the de-policing effect grips this City because of personal and professional concerns of officers, who will stand up for them? What will those folks do? Leave? Just take it from those who ruin the neighborhoods? We all pray it does not come to that. For those who do not fear the camera… Good for you. I don’t think we should be afraid. Body Worn Cameras will give the officers perspective for a change. The police can control the narrative. There will be no more snippets loaded up on YouTube by anyone with a cell phone or a 30-second clip on Fox News of a 20-minute interaction that slants the story against an officer. When that does happen, the Department can stand up for the officer and show the video in its entirety from the officer’s point of view. It will be eye-opening to a lot of people. How many “tabs” will be debunked? How many instances of abuse, verbal and physical, will we be able to point to? For those of us who are concerned how officers lack of discretion or the diminishing of pro-active policing may affect our profession, community policing or society in general… It’s really not your problem to worry about. The City and the Department has the responsibility to quantify the effects of a Body Worn Camera program. Good, bad or indifferent. I know we will continue to do our jobs, maybe differently, but we will do our jobs as police officers professionally, as we always have. They will have to do theirs. On a related note… If you don’t think there is an anti-police bias, try searching “when police” in the Google search engine. As of today, the algorithm gives these top five responses: When Police kill When Police dogs attack When Police pull you over When Police kill Zimring (a UC Berkeley professor and he wasn’t killed) When Police lie Maybe if I go to Bing, DuckDuckGo or Wiki.com search engines I’ll get something like: When Police make a positive difference When Police save someone’s life When Police support their communities coaching When Police act as mentors to young people When Police get killed by a career criminal when they were just at work doing their job I’ll let you know how that works out. Officers will have internal strife over letting that unsafe driver on Mass. Ave. go unchecked, knowing, God forbid, what could happen. So, as we have always done, we will do what’s right. In the other scenario, we will certainly think about the question of how the $100+ fine will affect the family of the stop sign violator. The concern is that who will be willing to differentiate between the two at the cost of someday being painted as something they are not.