Police
Should police officers be required to wear body cameras?
“I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. … If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”
Wise up. Wake up.
Colin Kaepernick was NOT protesting the national anthem (that's another issue).
Colin Kaepernick caused controversy by kneeling during the National Anthem at games in an effort to protest racial oppression and police brutality.
Kaepernick is no longer playing football in the NFL, which has effectively blacklisted him in retribution for expressing his freedom of speech and right to protest. Could there possibly be a clearer (and more ironic) form of discrimination and racism than the "blacklisting" of an American who sought to raise awareness of the abuse of other Americans?
Colin Kaepernick was NOT protesting the national anthem (that's another issue).
Colin Kaepernick caused controversy by kneeling during the National Anthem at games in an effort to protest racial oppression and police brutality.
Kaepernick is no longer playing football in the NFL, which has effectively blacklisted him in retribution for expressing his freedom of speech and right to protest. Could there possibly be a clearer (and more ironic) form of discrimination and racism than the "blacklisting" of an American who sought to raise awareness of the abuse of other Americans?
Local police have
become too militarized
and they over-react
with excessive force.
They routinely commit crimes
under the
"color of law."
Watch ALL
of the videos below.
THEN, AND ONLY THEN,
will you have a right
to even discuss this issue.
Watch ALL
of the videos
in the playlist below...
We agree with Our Revolution:
"In many cities all over our country, the incentives for policing are upside down. Departments are bringing in substantial sums of revenue by seizing the personal property of people who are suspected of criminal involvement. So-called civil asset forfeiture laws allow police to take property from people even before they are charged with a crime, much less convicted of one. Even worse, the system works in a way that makes it very difficult and expensive for an innocent person to get his or her property back. We must end programs that actually reward officials for seizing assets without a criminal conviction or other lawful mandate. Departments and officers should not profit off of such seizures.
Local governments that rely on tickets and fines to pay bills can become dependent on implicit quotas for law enforcement. When policing is a source of revenue tied to the financial sustainability of agencies, officers are pressured to meet internal goals which can lead to unnecessary or unlawful traffic stops and citations which disproportionately affect people of color. Implicit quota systems promote racial stereotyping and breed distrust between officers and communities of color.
Furthermore, we must ensure police departments are not abusing avenues of due process to shield bad actors from accountability. Local governments and police management must show zero tolerance for abuses of police power at all levels. All employees of any kind deserve due process protections, but it must be clear that departments will vigorously investigate and, if necessary, prosecute every allegation of wrongdoing to the fullest extent."
We agree with the Justice Democrats:
"We believe in the core idea of policing — to serve and protect the community. Police are a vital part of American society and that is why it’s so important to reform the system to make it serve all Americans. For-profit policing and for-profit prisons should be abolished. Police training should be retooled to emphasize de-escalation tactics, and body cameras should be mandatory on all officers. Furthermore, community oversight boards should be created and broken windows policing should be eliminated. Stop & frisk — which disproportionately targets blacks and latinos 87% of the time — has a 97% failure rate. On top of being discriminatory and ineffective, it’s also unconstitutional and should be ended. Special prosecutors must also be appointed to hold police accountable."
We agree with Andrew Yang 2020:
"Every Cop Gets a Camera
Approximately 400 to 1,000 Americans get shot and killed per year by police (the stats aren’t clearly kept, which is its own massive problem), some of which may be avoidable. Additionally, police departments receive thousands of complaints and lawsuits per year. Cameras would save many municipalities money by reducing legal costs defending against complaints, from the frivolous to the legitimate. This expense line is massive—the NYPD spent $136 million on legal settlements for complaints about police misconduct in 2010 alone. If cameras reduced this amount by any percentage they’d easily pay for themselves. The same is true for other cities around the country. Cameras would not only save lives and reduce incidents but they’d save cities millions in legal costs.
The benefits of body cameras on police officers are clear: A year-long study in Rialto, California showed a reduction of the rate of use-of-force incidents of 60% and an 88% reduction in complaints. Studies have shown that complaints drop dramatically when police officers are wearing cameras, both because of police conduct and because suspects behave better when they know they’re being recorded. It’s common sense. Everyone is going to act differently if they think what they’re saying or doing can be played back in a courtroom months later.
There are 18,000 different local law enforcement agencies, from the smallest town’s to the NYPD. Each agency is subject to its own budget, leadership, and regulations. Nationally, there are thousands of decision makers each balancing different interests and budgetary constraints, making widespread adoption difficult. It would cost approximately $400 million to equip all 1.1 million US police officers with body-worn cameras (current costs are approximately $350 apiece, not including data storage costs and maintenance).
Having a camera will help both the public and the police officer resolve complaints. It’s 2018 and it’s now possible to equip police officers with more advanced equipment than ever before. We should invest in making our police officers as effective as possible while truly being servants and protectors of the communities they serve.
Police officers have dozens of interactions each day that would benefit from being recorded.
Take Action:
Authorize federal funding to pay for a body camera for every officer in every police department in the country.
Have the DOJ compile accurate composite measurements, including from private sources, of police-related incidents and deaths to establish baseline rates.
Encourage community-based policing and reward departments for a combination of low complaints and continued efficacy.
Re-establish the ban on distributing surplus unnecessary military-level artillery gear to police departments.
Invest in new non-lethal weaponry that can be used to de-escalate conflicts at range and handprint signature guns so that weapons can only be used by their officers (‘he reached for my gun’ will no longer apply)."
We agree with the 2012 Constitutional Party Platform:
The 4th Amendment states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The Fifth Amendment further protects property, by stating: "No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
We affirm the Fourth Amendment right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, including arbitrary or de facto registration, general and unwarranted electronic surveillance, national computer databases, and national identification cards. We also reaffirm that civil governments must be strictly limited in their powers to intrude upon the persons and private property of individual citizens, in particular, that no place be searched and no thing be seized, except upon proof of probable cause that a crime has been committed and the proper judicial warrant issued.
We further reaffirm the common-law rule that protects the people from any search or seizure whatsoever when that search or seizure violates the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
We deplore and oppose vigorously legislation and executive action that deprive the people of their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights under claims of necessity to "combat terrorism" or to "protect national security."
We oppose legislation and administrative action utilizing asset forfeiture laws which enable the confiscation of the private property of persons not involved in the crime. Forfeiture of assets can only be enforced after conviction of the property owner as a penalty for the crime. Such forfeitures must follow full due process of law under criminal prosecution standards.
We oppose the monitoring and controlling of the financial transactions of the people through such proposed laws as "Know Your Customer." Banks should be repositories of treasure and fiduciaries for the people, not enforcers for the State. Any information regarding customer transactions the State obtains from banks must be subject to the traditional Fourth Amendment safeguards.
We support privacy legislation that prohibits private parties from discriminating against individuals who refuse to disclose or obtain a Social Security number. We also call for legislation prohibiting all governmental entities from requiring the use of the Social Security number except for Social Security transactions. Additionally, we call for the repeal of all laws, regulations and statutes that require the use of the Social Security number for any purpose other than Social Security transactions.
We agree with the 2016 Republican Party Platform:
"Civil asset forfeiture was originally intended as a way to cripple organized crime through the seizure of property used in a criminal enterprise. Regrettably, it has become a tool for unscrupulous law enforcement officials, acting without due process, to profit by destroying the livelihood of innocent individuals, many of whom never recover the lawful assets taken from them. When the rights of the innocent can be so easily violated, no one’s rights are safe. We call on Congress and state legislatures to enact reforms to protect law-abiding citizens against abusive asset forfeiture tactics."
We agree with the For a People's Party Platform:
"Demilitarize police by banning and reversing the transfer of military weapons to domestic police forces. Promote community policing and employ special prosecutors for all police killings."
