Category Archives: Body cameras

ProPublica: Police Departments Are Turning to AI to Sift Through Millions of Hours of Unreviewed Body-Cam Footage

ProPublica: Police Departments Are Turning to AI to Sift Through Millions of Hours of Unreviewed Body-Cam Footage by Umar Farooq (“Body camera video equivalent to 25 million copies of ‘Barbie’ is collected but rarely reviewed. Some cities are looking to … Continue reading

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NYT/ProPublica: The Failed Promise of Police Body Cameras

NYT/ProPublica: The Failed Promise of Police Body Cameras by Eric Umansky (“When body-worn cameras were introduced a decade ago, they seemed to hold the promise of a revolution. Once police officers knew they were being filmed, surely they would think … Continue reading

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CA4: Failure to turn on bodycam before frisk not shown to be in bad faith

Officer’s failure to turn on his bodycam before frisk here doesn’t require an adverse inference of destruction of evidence. Bad faith isn’t shown. United States v. Aguirre-Cuenca, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 1105 (4th Cir. Jan. 18, 2023). Defendant’s appeal is … Continue reading

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E.D.Mich.: No sanction for automatic purge of bodycam video of this raid

The raid in this case was recorded on bodycams but the official retention policy at the time was to hold video for only 60 days unless it was flagged to be kept despite the fact that cases take longer than … Continue reading

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Reason: How Body-Worn Cameras Are Changing Fourth Amendment Law

Reason: How Body-Worn Cameras Are Changing Fourth Amendment Law by Orin Kerr (“A subtle change, but a real one.”):

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CA9: Absolute immunity for DA advising on a SW application

A DA advising police on a second search warrant was prosecutorial, not investigatory, for immunity purposes. Haworth v. City of Walla Walla, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 21370 (9th Cir. Aug. 2, 2022). Local court rule for drug testing of bailbondsman … Continue reading

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Reason: A SWAT Team Wrongfully Raided Her Home. Now Cops Say Footage From the Raid Is Private Since No One Was Killed.

Reason: A SWAT Team Wrongfully Raided Her Home. Now Cops Say Footage From the Raid Is Private Since No One Was Killed, by Elizabeth Nolan Brown (“In May 2020, a SWAT team burst into the Raleigh, North Carolina, home that … Continue reading

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Penn Live: Opinion: The concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability

Penn Live: Opinion: The concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability (“We are criminologists and economists, and our recent study has found that providing police officers with body cameras has a substantive effect on investigations of police accountability. The … Continue reading

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Gothamist: Judge Tosses Staten Island Man’s Conviction Following NYPD Drug Planting Allegations

Gothamist: Judge Tosses Staten Island Man’s Conviction Following NYPD Drug Planting Allegations by George Joseph (“In a court decision on Friday, a Staten Island judge vacated a man’s 2018 conviction, citing body camera footage which appears to show an NYPD … Continue reading

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NYT: When Police Lie, the Innocent Pay. Some Are Fighting Back.

NYT: When Police Lie, the Innocent Pay. Some Are Fighting Back. (“Video from body cameras, doorbells and cellphones is revealing discrepancies between what police officers report and what actually happened.”)

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CA9: Body cam video of unreasonable warrantless entry to house should have been suppressed; but harmless

The warrantless entry into defendant’s house and body cam recording of him violated the Fourth Amendment. The other evidence, however, was overwhelming, so was harmless. United States v. Holiday, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 15884 (9th Cir. May 27, 2021). Where … Continue reading

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D.Nev.: “Seeming[ly] strategic activation and deactivation of the body camera” leads to finding of no consent

“Seeming[ly] strategic activation and deactivation of the body camera” and less than credible testimony results in court finding government failed in proving consent. United States v. Carter, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33379 (D. Nev. Feb. 23, 2021):

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WaPo: DoJ to allow local police to wear body cameras on federal task forces

WaPo: Justice Department to allow local police to wear body cameras on federal task forces (“But federal officers and agents in FBI, ATF, DEA and U.S. Marshals still will not wear cameras”)

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NJ.com: Murphy vetoes bills requiring cops to use body cameras, citing cost and privacy concerns

NJ.com: Murphy vetoes bills requiring cops to use body cameras, citing cost and privacy concerns by Blake Nelson (“Gov. Phil Murphy says he won’t sign two bills expanding the use of police body cameras unless lawmakers made several changes.”)

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CO: cert. gr.: Whether cell phone details beyond number obtained by illegal arrest should be suppressed; or, is cell phone number particular enough?

“Whether the court of appeals erred in determining that the warrant to search Petitioner’s cell phone and supporting affidavit satisfied the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement, where all descriptive information about the phone except the telephone number was obtained as a … Continue reading

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NPR: Police Body Cam Footage Is Being Used For Surveillance, Activists Say

NPR: Police Body Cam Footage Is Being Used For Surveillance, Activists Say by Heather Van Blokland (“Police reform bills from both parties include requirements for police body cameras. The ACLU and others worry camera footage might be used for inappropriate … Continue reading

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Louisville Courier Journal: Two articles on no knock SWs

Louisville Courier Journal: Rand Paul says no-knock warrants ‘should be forbidden’ in wake of Breonna Taylor shooting by Phillip M. Bailey (“‘No one should lose their life in pursuit of a crime without a victim, and “no-knock” warrants should be … Continue reading

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CA11: Officer reasonably mistook dog’s whimper inside for person in distress; entry valid

“The major question presented on appeal is whether it was reasonable for officers, mistaking a dog’s whimper for a person in distress, to enter Evans’s home without a warrant. Given the totality of the circumstances, we say yes.” United States … Continue reading

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WaPo: Axon rolls out the next level of police technology: Live-streaming body cameras

WaPo: Axon rolls out the next level of police technology: Live-streaming body cameras by Tom Jackman (“Cincinnati is the first city to equip its force with cameras that turn on automatically when guns or Tasers are drawn, letting commanders see … Continue reading

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AP: South Bend OKs random inspections for body camera footage

AP: South Bend OKs random inspections for body camera footage (“A new policy adopted in the wake of a black man’s fatal shooting by a white South Bend police officer calls for random inspections of officers’ body camera footage and … Continue reading

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