[Jeff Higgins]

Maybe the new creed will be "a recorded society is a polite society"...

Yes, people act differently when they know they are being recorded. On both sides of the law.

Funny, though, in that here in Seattle (on record as having one of the most violent police departments in the country, and under indictment from the Justice Department), I cannot remember a single video being released to the public (after some questionable, violent encounter between police and the citizenry) that has ever supported the polices' position. Every single one of them has been quite damning - for the police. Not a single one has ever had the Seattle public reacting "see - the cop was in the right...".

So, yeah, it stands as a fact of life that police get accused of all sorts of things they do not do. Let's face it - none of their "customers" are all that happy to see them. Most will do whatever they think they can to "get even" with the cop. I get that. Problem is, this situation has also provided a ready shield behind which bad cops can hide, and they have used it from time immemorial. Today, however, with the proliferation of modern recording devices, that veil has been lifted. Now we oft times get to see what the police have been able to deny for far too long. And it's ugly - very ugly at times.

It's long past due that every interaction between a cop and a citizen be recorded. It's also long past due that cops are made personally liable for their bad behavior. I think between the chest cams and personal liability, we may actually be able to get to the point where we are being policed in the manner in which our police claim to be policing us. Maybe...