Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/13/la-cop-unwittingly-films-himse.html
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It’s pretty clear by the video that guilt was planted on these honorable police officers. I hope the real criminals are caught.
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Of course.
Just a single bad apple . Nothing to see here. Move along, nothing to see.
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All the single bad apples are adding up to blight. I think it’s time to burn the orchard.
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For each of these events where stupid cops forget they are filming themselves and plant evidence, how many go unrecorded?
Also, giving cops the ability to turn on and off their cameras is clearly something cops are learning to game so that definitely should not be left to their discretion.
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Do real cocaine users usually keep their stash in a wallet? That seems like an impractical way to carry around any form of illicit drug other than LSD blotter paper.
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There needs to be a nation-wide requirement that all body cams get automatically activated as soon as the officers wearing it are clocked in for duty and can’t be turned off until they clock out for the night.
It shouldn’t be voluntary, and the officers should have no capability whatsoever of turning their cams off, or tampering with them to interfere with their functionality.
After all, they have nothing to hide, right?
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While they’re on leave, they could take up a hobby … like magic.
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Great question. The answer is almost certainly “lots and lots”.
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Psst, you didn’t know?
They all keep in in their wallet with their ID so it’s easy to find when they get pulled over.
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The good officers and bad officers are supposed to log all their cam footage at the end of each day. I don’t know much about the contract & technology, but I know (some) LAPD rank and file believe it’s extremely inefficient and cuts an hour or so off their time doing other work. Maybe better if it automatically kicks on when they’re on a call, and if there were some way to tag each interaction while it’s happening (like, a single button that highlights where they are in the time code) and a quick way to file it afterwards, before going to the next call. And no manual off until you’re back at your desk. The dispatch should be able to page these devices with any info of where they’re headed and why. That won’t cover all cops (like traffic cops) but it could make for more effective and accountable policing.
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Shouldn’t these cops be arrested for possession?
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Given that the cop started with possession of the cocaine and subsequently exchanged it for the guy’s wallet, I’d say that’s intent to supply.
What? I’m not bending the truth any further than that dirty frickin’ cop did!
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If there’s a way to circumvent something that the police (or anyone, for that matter) don’t like, they’re going to find a way. Black tape. “The battery died”. “Didn’t realize it was off”. “Knocked it loose and it was too risky to bend down and get it until after they ran into my fist”, and so forth.
If the only option for keeping them clean has to be technological, I recommend following them around with drones…
Um, are there bulletproof drones yet?
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Time filling out logs and reports could be used more efficiently, like planting drugs on innocent people.
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There’s a reason why the expression is “a rotten apple spoils the barrel.” An unchecked corrupt individual is indicative of - or causes, by being unchecked - a systemic problem. It’s “funny” how often the “bad apple” metaphor gets used unironically by police forces (and their apologists) who try to use it to indicate the lack of a systemic problem.
The answer is almost certainly “most of them.” However many that is…
Yeah, at a minimum. Right now we’re only catching the idiots who don’t know how their camera systems work (that they’re constantly recording, but throwing out all but the last minute of video until the cop hits the record button). However, I also fear that once cops get used to them, they’ll be playing to the camera even more than they are now, staging little fictions made possible by the fact that they still have some control over what it sees, even if they can’t edit it.
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It’s the 99% of cops that give the other 1% a bad name.
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Holy Guacamole.
Can’t vouch for current practice, but I survived Cocaine Madness in 1980s Hollywood, so I’m way more familiar with coke than you’d think, given that I’d rather have a good cup of coffee, really. I don’t really like coke.
And, yeah, lotsa people took delivery of small retail quantities of coke - generally a gram or less, usually a quarter gram - in small folded paper envelopes known as “paper bindles” (also used by forensic evidence collectors and other science involving small scrapings or powdered samples)
And while some folks would decant their bindles into glass vials, many people just kept the bindle in their wallet.
Because, you see, a cop could find a vial during a pat-down search for weapons with no warrant needed, but would need a warrant to search your wallet.
Hand him JUST the license. (-:
(Many cops on traffic stops will insist you ONLY hand them your license, rather than your whole wallet, so that there’s no room for accusations of shenanigans - tampering, theft, bribery, illegal search and such.)
(And yes, I realize that “needs a warrant” doesn’t always translate to “gives a shit about needing a warrant”; but remember, these were (generally) white Hollywood high-rollers, not ghetto gangbangers.)
But, yeah, folded paper bindles in the wallet. Quite common.
Here’s folding instructions:
How To Fold a Seed Bindle
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