This opinion, I assure you, is not a popular one. Many cops I work with do not favor the installation of video cameras in their police cars. I flat out disagree and believe they can help save the profession.

Look at this recent Good Morning America video from Baltimore.

I feel bad for that cop, I really do. Odds are he will be in some serious trouble, perhaps even fired. Now I don’t think he is a brute or a violent person. I understand (but the public probably won’t) that he has spent years dealing with recalcitrant people like that punk kid. He probably had a bad day going already, and he snapped. This is not an excuse, but it is a consideration.

If cops know that everything they do is being videotaped, then I have to believe they will check themselves in times of emotion like the Baltimore incident.

Now trust me that everything in police work has to do with money, and money first. So getting this equipment will not be easy. Bean counters would rather fire me than help me keep my job. Sad, indeed (and fiscally unwise as well…it is cheaper to buy a video camera than replace a cop!)

Anyhow, I hope incidents like this one show the politicos that we need cameras NOW. And I hope that officer gets a second chance.