User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: When Public Records Aren’t Made Public

  1. #1

    tPF Moderator
    Points: 473,135, Level: 100
    Level completed: 0%, Points required for next Level: 0
    Overall activity: 69.0%
    Achievements:
    Social50000 Experience PointsTagger First ClassYour first GroupVeteranRecommendation First ClassOverdrive
    Awards:
    Master Tagger
    DGUtley's Avatar tPF Moderator
    Karma
    200769
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Location
    Northeast Ohio
    Posts
    52,922
    Points
    473,135
    Level
    100
    Thanks Given
    17,060
    Thanked 46,039x in 24,874 Posts
    Mentioned
    886 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    When Public Records Aren’t Made Public

    When Public Records Aren’t Made Public -- The troubling trend of judges keeping police body camera footage hidden. I am not a fan of Slate; but I am a huge advocate of the open records laws. Not all public records are instantly accessible by anyone who wants to see them. There are privacy reasons, police investigation reasons, and fair trial reasons among others to keep certain documents, photos, or videos out of public hands at certain times. The Arizona judge’s statement about the video causing public anger suggests he’s mostly worried about the footage’s potential to cause harm, given the reach of today’s media.


    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_a...a_footage.html
    Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect. -- Woody Hayes​

  2. #2
    Points: 10,517, Level: 24
    Level completed: 59%, Points required for next Level: 333
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    Veteran10000 Experience Points
    Kacper's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    1027
    Join Date
    Aug 2017
    Posts
    2,404
    Points
    10,517
    Level
    24
    Thanks Given
    495
    Thanked 1,017x in 747 Posts
    Mentioned
    9 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I don't consider it a troubling trend. Courts have sealed sensitive records and evidence like crime scene/medical examiner photos forever. I am more troubled by cellphone video getting out there tainting jury pools/shaping public opinion when they are often short clips from the meatier parts devoid of context except the site supplied ones by people pursuing an agenda and wanting to use them as proof of something political as opposed to showing the actual facts of the encounters.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to Kacper For This Useful Post:

    DGUtley (11-18-2017)

  4. #3
    Points: 122,776, Level: 84
    Level completed: 98%, Points required for next Level: 74
    Overall activity: 0.1%
    Achievements:
    Social50000 Experience PointsTagger Second ClassVeteran
    Safety's Avatar Nationalist
    Karma
    2616415
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    GA/FL
    Posts
    50,789
    Points
    122,776
    Level
    84
    Thanks Given
    25,014
    Thanked 22,901x in 15,599 Posts
    Mentioned
    1237 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    ...and then there are cases like this...

    The department has reportedly refused to release any clips pertaining to police investigations since the surveillance program began two years ago.

    CBS managed to obtain a total of 12 videos, all worn by individual officers at the scene of a hit-and-run incident in April.

    The suspect, Ronald Shields, 52, was arrested at the time and charged with felony hit-and-run and possession of cocaine. Officers claimed in the police report that they found a small bag of coke in the front left pocket of Shields’ shirt.

    But bodycam video apparently tells a different story.

    According to Shields’ defense attorney, Steve Levine, the footage allegedly shows an officer scooping the coke up off the ground — and not from his client’s pocket, like authorities claimed.

    The cop then motions to another officer and appears to place the bag inside Shields’ wallet. What he doesn’t know, at the time, is that his bodycam — which he has yet to turn on — is currently recording his every move.

    The devices are designed to record 30 seconds prior to being turned on, but the officer appears to be unaware of this, seeing how he allegedly turns his camera on just moments after planting the coke inside Shields’ wallet.

    “It seems improbable that someone would tape themselves planting drugs,” Levine told CBS. “So it seems more reasonable that when he turned on his cam he felt he was recording at that point.”

    The cop — identified only as LAPD Officer Gaxiola — can be heard bragging about the bust and repeatedly telling fellow cops that he found “a bag of narco” in Shields’ wallet. But the story apparently changed when it came time for cops to go in front of a judge.

    Another arresting officer, Samuel Lee, later testified in court that he actually found the coke in Shields’ pocket.

    “He looked dumbstruck to me,” Levine said Thursday, describing Lee’s reaction to the bodycam video. “He had really no answer.”

    Levine says the footage shows the exact moment when Gaxiola planted the drugs.
    Read more at the link....https://nypost.com/2017/11/10/bodyca...uspect-lawyer/
    “Conscientiously believing that the proper condition of the negro is slavery, or a complete subjection to the white man, and entertaining the belief that the day is not distant when the old Union will be restored with slavery nationally declared to be the proper condition of all of African descent, and in view of the future harmony and progress of all the States of America, I have been induced to issue this address, so that there may be no misunderstanding in the future”

    - Jefferson Davis

  5. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Safety For This Useful Post:

    Cthulhu (11-18-2017),DGUtley (11-18-2017)

  6. #4
    Points: 49,511, Level: 54
    Level completed: 37%, Points required for next Level: 1,139
    Overall activity: 0%
    Achievements:
    SocialTagger First ClassRecommendation Second Class50000 Experience PointsVeteran
    Cthulhu's Avatar Senior Member
    Karma
    72948
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    The spaces between cognitive thought and passive nightmares
    Posts
    13,841
    Points
    49,511
    Level
    54
    Thanks Given
    10,369
    Thanked 8,079x in 5,392 Posts
    Mentioned
    577 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    If it is a public record without public access -it isn't public.

    Open everything. All of it.

    Sent from my evil cell phone.
    "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

    Ephesians 6:12

+ Reply to Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts