Could the Police Body Camera Trend Propagate Into Something Much Larger?

Posted on August 21, 2015

Rachel Levinson-Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice weaves a precautionary tale on the slippery slope of mission creep arising from the use of body cameras in police departments across the country here.

Her analysis of similar technological interventions geared toward preventing criminal behavior or other wrongdoing reveals a checkered tendency for these programs to remain within their original scope.

She suggests “the right question to ask is not, ‘are we comfortable with this particular technology, used for the particular governmental purpose currently asserted, with the particular controls currently in place?’ Rather, the more accurate and far-reaching question is, ‘what do we think of the other uses that might be spawned once this technology is introduced?'”

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