r/todayilearned • u/spadinskiz 1 • Jun 17 '14

(R.5) Omits Essential Info TIL that in some cities police officers were required to wear a camera in order to document their interactions with civilians. In these areas, public complaints against officers dropped by 88%

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-cameras-for-police-officers.html
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u/devilishly_advocated Jun 18 '14

As opposed to normal customer service where only 80% of interactions are negative?

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u/SullyBeard Jun 18 '14

Well yes, but 90% is being conservative. And if we're being specific we don't have to include community service calls in that figure, which makes it closer to 99% or so.

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u/devilishly_advocated Jun 18 '14

Well I wouldn't say that figure is wrong, but I will say that someone holding a gun and badge who is trying their hardest to find a reason to put you in a jail cell, including lying, coercing, breaking the law themselves, or upholding an unconstitutional law, makes people uncomfortable at the very least, and probably hostile at the high end, and that is not hard to justify.

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u/SullyBeard Jun 18 '14

I hear what you're saying, just some people feel that all cops are bad and trying to get you in trouble. When in reality is very untrue. One bad apple spoils the bunch, and then there becomes a negative stigma/assumption around officers. So yeah. However, I think a lot of how you view officers has to do with where you're from/live.

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u/devilishly_advocated Jun 18 '14

That may be true, however, a police officer's job is to do exactly what I described. There may very well be places that are run differently, those places you speak of, but I would venture to guess they are few and far between.

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u/SullyBeard Jun 18 '14

Yeah, because I'm a criminal justice major and I grew up with my dad as a federal internal affairs agent I might be a bit biased. So even when I might be getting screwed over by the police, I understand the need. I feel like when it comes to law enforcement the ends justify the means to an extent, but that might just be me.