WaPo: A cop fires. A teen dies. Yet six police body cameras somehow miss what happens.

WaPo: A cop fires. A teen dies. Yet six police body cameras somehow miss what happens. by Craig Timberg:

ALBUQUERQUE — The killing of Mary Hawkes, a troubled 19-year-old woman suspected of stealing a truck, should have been a case study in the value of police body cameras. The action was fast-moving, the decisions split-second. And all of the surviving witnesses — including the shooter — were police officers wearing small video cameras on their uniforms.

But nearly three years after the 2014 shooting, it instead has become a cautionary tale about the potential of new technology to obscure rather than illuminate, especially in situations when police control what is recorded and shown to the public. Federal investigators said in December that they were probing allegations that police tampered with video evidence in the case, underscoring broader questions about whether a nationwide rollout of body cameras is fulfilling promises of greater accountability.

“The video has become part of the story, as opposed to what it was perceived to be, as telling the story,” said Edward W. Harness, executive director of Albuquerque’s Civilian Police Oversight Agency.

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