In this article, the author addresses a newly passed bill by the New Jersey Assembly and approved by Congress in January 2022. The bill allowed police officers access to their body cams before writing the police report. The author states that the cam footage is key evidence in police misconduct and abuse of authority. He strongly disagrees with the passing of this law because the cams lose their purpose–they were mandated to increase accountability, transparency, and trust. The author emphasizes the importance of an officer’s memory when tested at court. In other words, by tampering with the officer’s memory, we tamper with the judicial investigation and helps officers evade accountability since memory is no longer necessary. 

Critical Analysis 

I agree with the author; permitting officers to view their body cam footage before making their initial report of an incident hurts accountability and accuracy far more than it helps. A clear example is a shooting situation. If an officer is prone to lying or distorting the facts in order to justify a shooting, giving him or her the video evidence before taking a statement helps the officer lie more successfully and in ways that the video evidence will not contradict. Although video evidence is extremely useful, it does not catch everything from all angles. If an officer is unsure what was and was not caught by the camera, he or she may feel compelled to speak "the whole truth and nothing but the truth" while explaining an event to avoid being exposed as a liar by the video. The video provides crucial evidence on whether the officer acted reasonably. Nevertheless, a police officer's memory of what happened is also important – primarily since courts evaluate an officer's use of force based on what they know at the time. Therefor it is essential to avoid tempering an officer's memories for a successful investigation. 

References

Thomas, Z. (2022). New Jersey Monitor: Cops shouldn’t be able to view body-cam video before writing reports. Commentary. Retrieved April 1, 20221 from:

 Bibring, P. (2015). ACLU of Northern Ca: cops watch video footage before writing reports?. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from: