Police and Body-Worn Cameras: How to Protect Yourself

What is a Body-Worn Camera?

In our modern world, we are surrounded by cameras. Businesses use cameras to secure their stores, many homeowners have installed cameras to ensure the safety of their property and families, and almost every individual is holding a cell phone, capable of capturing high-resolution footage at a moment’s notice. Police officers and others working in law enforcement are no exception.

After a series of highly publicized police shootings in the mid-2010’s, laws dictating the broad use of police body-worn cameras became increasingly common across the United States, including in Minnesota. Police officers are required to wear these portable recording systems when responding to investigations, emergencies, or incidents. Today, it is generally safe to assume that any and all actions taken in the presence of police officers, whether they occur on private property or otherwise, are being recorded from as many angles as there are officers. Squad cars are also equipped with recording devices, capturing video and audio.

Who do These Cameras Protect?

Footage from police cameras is typically treated in similar ways to footage evidence from other sources, for example home security cameras, in civil as well as criminal cases. Depending on their relevance to the legal questions at hand, prosecutors, plaintiffs, and defendants can use the footage to build and support their cases. Though this may sound intimidating, the footage in question can be quite powerful when in use, as it provides an exact picture, and in many cases, transcript, of what occurred during the events in question. If a party in a case claims they said or did something, but the footage shows that they did not, then that person is correctly viewed as being untruthful in the eyes of the police, the lawyers, the judge and the jury.

For example, if a police officer claimed that they had instructed a person to do something, while the video from the body-worn camera showed something different, that person would be protected by their false claim being exposed. Similarly, it would be easier for the prosecution to convict a defendant whose story is contradicted by the video. They-said you-said scenarios are mostly, if not entirely prevented, and wrongdoing is clear for all to see.

It is important to remember that interactions with police officers are being recorded. Even if the situation itself did not have officers present initially, other recording devices are often active, memorializing the events at the scene and later available for use in court.

For legal counsel for your set of facts, contact the attorneys at Sandberg Haddon.

DISCLAIMER: This article is not intended for and should not be used as a replacement for legal advice.