Body Camera Footage Shows Cameras Aren't Making Boston Cops Better Police Officers

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the here's-hoping-there's-a-long-tail-deterrent-effect dept

So much for body cameras giving us better law enforcement. What started as an accountability effort has turned into a boon for prosecutors and little else. Every so often, citizens win lawsuits or have charges dropped because recorded footage differs greatly from the official narrative, but those are relative anomalies. When footage would be useful, it tends to go missing or is never recorded.

Every so often, footage that was never meant to see makes it into the hands of the public. The Appeal was given access to 66 hours of footage recorded by officers handling protests in Boston. The recordings show bad cops will continue to be bad cops, even when they’re aware (or should be) they’re all wearing recording devices.

Recordings show officers deploying force against people attempting to comply with their orders and discussing what appears to be an arrest quota. It shows an officer appearing to pocket a tie (with the price tag still on it) picked up near a looted store. It shows officers repeatedly pepper-spraying peaceful protesters and discussing targeting certain individuals for more spraying.

One of the most disturbing clips shows a cop bragging about hitting protesters with his unmarked car:

In another clip, a sergeant approaches the officer behind camera X81331058 and begins telling him about using a police vehicle to attack demonstrators.

“Dude, dude, dude, I fuckin’ drove down Tremont—there was an unmarked state police cruiser they were all gathered around,” says the sergeant, laughing.

“So then I had a fucker keep coming, fucking running,” he continues. “I’m fucking hitting people with the car, did you hear me, I was like, ‘get the fuck—’”

Some of the worst cops also appear to be the dumbest cops. Here’s what happened next:

At this point the officer behind the camera pushes the sergeant’s head away and walks off in the other direction. He comes back a few seconds later, saying, “it’s on,” about the camera.

The sergeant quickly changes his story.

“Oh, no no no no no, what I’m saying is, though, that they were in front, like, I didn’t hit anybody, like, just driving, that’s all,” he says. “My windows were closed, the shit was coming in.”

Instead of the officer with the camera telling the sergeant he screwed up, the officer instead apologizes for his camera activating.

“This thing just fucking went on automatically,” he says.

And that’s how bad cops stay on the job. Because even marginally better cops are unwilling to do anything about their misconduct.

Now, there will be some accountability, albeit belatedly. This footage could have been reviewed any time by these officers’ supervisors or other oversight efforts. Either it was never reviewed or no one saw anything wrong with what was recorded. Neither outcome is ideal.

But some of these cops may find their jobs on the line in the near future. The Appeal reports Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins has forwarded the recordings to her special prosecution team. The Boston Police Department has also opened its own investigation into officers’ actions during the May 31st protest.

If something actually comes out of this, the cameras may finally have a deterrent effect. Or it may just make bad cops act better when there’s a chance they’re being recorded. But even if the better behavior is only performative, there should be some overspill that results in fewer people being abused or having their rights violated. And that’s probably the best we can hope for until police departments actually start taking employee discipline seriously.

Filed Under: body cameras, boston, boston police, policing, transparency