Obama to write Executive Order for police body cams

Adding to the irony and drama ......

In June of this year, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) introduced an amendment to halt the Pentagon's 1033 program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars of military-grade weapons and equipment to local police annually. The amendment overwhelmingly failed, and just seven out of 41 voting members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) supported it.

That vote has drawn controversy in the wake of this summer's protests and grotesquely militarized police response in Ferguson, Missouri. Ferguson's own congressman is Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.); he is a member of the CBC, and he voted against demilitarizing police.

Now, The New York Times reports that the CBC is campaigning on what happened in Ferguson to turn out African-American voters for 2014, an effort which would presumably be more difficult were the CBC's record on police militarization more widely known.
- - Bonnie Kristian


The Congressional Black Caucus voted to preserve police militarization


House Vote on the Bill

a reply to: xuenchen

c'mon, I read your opening title and looked at your source...NOWHERE DOES IT SAY that Obama will write executive orders for police body cams....why don't you go and apply for a job at FOX NEWS, they also write hyperbolic and deceitful headlines

originally posted by: jimmyx
a reply to: xuenchen

c'mon, I read your opening title and looked at your source...NOWHERE DOES IT SAY that Obama will write executive orders for police body cams....why don't you go and apply for a job at FOX NEWS, they also write hyperbolic and deceitful headlines

Member Hefficide linked to the 'official' White House statement....

Community Policing Initiative

The President also proposes a three-year $263 million investment package that will increase use of body-worn cameras, expand training for law enforcement agencies (LEAs), add more resources for police department reform, and multiply the number of cities where DOJ facilitates community and local LEA engagement. As part of this initiative, a new Body Worn Camera Partnership Program would provide a 50 percent match to States/localities who purchase body worn cameras and requisite storage. Overall, the proposed $75 million investment over three years could help purchase 50,000 body worn cameras. The initiative as a whole will help the federal government efforts to be a full partner with state and local LEAs in order to build and sustain trust between communities and those who serve and protect these communities.


FACT SHEET: Strengthening Community Policing

a reply to: xuenchen

The initiative as a whole will help the federal government efforts to be a full partner with state and local LEAs in order to build and sustain trust between communities and those who serve and protect these communities.

that sounds wonderful, a govt half the population doesn't trust wants to teach the LEAs, which the other half the of the population doesn't trust, how to build trust, the one thing the federal govt is severely lacking in lol

who's brainchild is this grand plan anyway?

originally posted by: Xtrozero

originally posted by: xuenchen
The Progressive leaning Republicans would certainly keep this going if and when they get control of the Executive Branch.

Is this an oxymoron? That is like saying the "Socialist leaning Republican"....

Not really, after all, there are 'conservative' Dems. What's the diff?

As much as people here on ATS have been clamoring for body cams on LEO's, I am surprised that this decision is receiving such negativeness. It's one of very few decisions which I happen to agree with. But is this how everything is going to be here on out, EO's for everything? Not even a smidgeon of consult with congress? They might have all been for it. It's like he threw in the towel and isn't even attempting to work with any of them. And his party still holds the advantage. Well, for a bit longer.

I think he needs this simple grade school poster hung in his office to remind him of how the government is supposed to work.

Extra Extra

Holder Has Plans for a Nationalized Police Force That Favors Minority Criminals

My two cents........

1. I've never been in any serious trouble with the law but I used to drive a lot so I did get pulled over a few times. In the early encounters, I was young and cocky so it's probably no surprise the officers weren't too friendly. But I never really felt like I was in any danger. As long as I just did as they told me to, they were not particularly intimidating.

2. I frankly do not believe the cops frequently instigate trouble and cause things to spin out of control. I think you're more likely to see an incident where there is a bad cop involved on TV simply because of the number of cameras that are out there these days and when something like that happens and somebody gets it on camera, it's always a big deal. How many cops are there and how many encounters do citizens have with cops every day? Compare this with the actual number of proven incidents of excessive force.

3. People forget something about these body cams. They will be practically useless if they're not always rolling and if they're always rolling they'll basically be surveillance cameras. However many police officers there are, you might as well take that many additional surveillance cameras and install them randomly all over the country. My guess is even if they don't start out recording at all times they'll end up that way. So anytime you're in the presence of a police officer, you will be recorded and the footage will likely be stored forever. This has nothing to do with good cops or bad cops an possibly everything to do with Big Brothers tracking innocent citizens without their knowledge.

4. This is likely to spread out. Ordinary citizens will start to think "Well, why can't I wear a camera?". It's one thing to know everyone around you has a camera in their phone and they MIGHT snap a pic or video of you if they want to but if millions of people were wearing cameras that were always recording, that would be a little closer to an Orwellian-type of Big Brother system. It certainly would not take much from this point.