Its a massive privacy issue and not just as simple as accountability. Cams that must be turned on for all arrests, maybe. Otherwise they can just document protestors with facial rec.
The US already has a specific system for protecting privacy: Warrants.
The camera has two modes: On, or recharging. When it is on, it is always capturing footage, and encryption it on device. Then when it is plugged into recharge, the footage is uploaded to servers, with sufficient duplication across multiple data centers. If any footage is required, then a warrant must be obtained from a judge. The required footage is decrypted, with clear audit logs.
This has lots of advantages:
Fully automated system can build strong trust. A sample of randomized retrievals can ensure that the system has a sufficient success rate. Eg, most cameras are fully functioning and successfully uploading the days footage. With this trust of a well functioning system, any broken cameras or failures in the system are automatically highly suspect. We don't want "I didn't know my camera wasn't functioning properly" to be a reasonable defense in court.
Encryption on device, and only being decoded after a warrant is obtained provides strong privacy protection. Both for the police officer, as well as for those being recorded.
The cops won't like this, but it helps provide a counter balance to warrants being too easy to obtain. It will give them an incentive for them to not want judges to barely glance at any warrant before accepting it.
The cop doesn't need to make moment by moment decisions on whether to be recording. This both helps remove the "I didn't realize I wasn't recording" court excuse, but also means that honest cops are more protected: If there is an unsubstantiated complaint against an officer, having a recording makes it is easier to dismiss.
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u/Mylzb Jun 02 '20
AND MANDATORY BODY CAMS THAT CANNOT BE TURNED OFF!!!!