Police are calling the technology a game changer.
Neva’ been done befo’! anyone? hehe
The camera system they use is the Taser AXON. Definitely an interesting concept, cameras on police officers. That wouldn’t be a job i’d ever want because you obviously deal with a lot of scumbags, and you would have to restrain yourself. With these cameras on and recording, they must be in court non-stop.
Anyone that’s with a police force that has cameras want to weigh in?
Comments
26 responses to “Burnsville MN Cops Foil Suicide Attempt On Camera”
Its not a bad idea we use them in the jail but our road patrol officers have stopped using them all together. Its a big bulky system and some deputies don’t have room on their belt.
Eventually it will be compact enough to function without problems. Night-vision scopes 40 years ago were big and bulky, just give the technology a little time and it should expand. :)
Ok. The only thing I have to ask, and I’m not trying to be naive or troll, but how was this man threatening the officer?
While I have zero experience in law enforcement and have never needed to defend myself, I don’t understand how this guy’s first reaction is to say “I was under an immediate threat and felt the need to pull my gun.” I can certainly see the need to be in a state of readiness – i.e. have my hand on my weapon ready to draw if the knife gets turned towards me – but I would go for my tazer first if I was in this situation. This is evidently an attempt at suicide by cop.
With that being said, I think technology like this is a double edged sword (as is everything in life.) It can potentially work for or against LEOs in any given situation, and it can also provide a level of accountability. But how would something like this be monitored? By that I mean what guarantees will there be that a LEO would remember to engage the system? I haven’t really researched this stuff in depth so I don’t know if and what kind of failsafes (if any) it has.
Solution: Hold gun in right hand and taser in left like a knife in Call of Duty.
I am clearly missing something here. I see no threat.
The threat is the man in this video had a knife and is close enough that he could have stabbed the officer before he was able to draw and discharge his firearm. Sgt Dennis Tueller of Salt lake city PD is the man who came up with the “21 foot rule” that is still taught to law enforcement today. The Tazer is not an option for the officer with the AXON because you would not decrease your level of force below that of of the subject. The second officer should be using less-lethal or a non-lethal option.
Great comment, rules to live by. Second officer acted perfectly with the taser and first officer acted perfectly with the drawn weapn.
In addition to what Hoss said, the 21 foot rule is the bare minimum under ideal conditions and you don’t use less than lethal force against “lethal” force when you are by yourself. You should always have a cover officer when available, this was a spur of the moment thing. A determined attacker can close that distance with you in very scary, short amount of time. If you get board try it with your friends sometime, without real weapons of course. It is also good to know for self defense/CCW encounters. The guy with the knife in the video was maybe 15 feet away and non-compliant to orders to drop the knife. Cops don’t get paid to be punching bags or stab targets. Part of the AXON system is a down load hub that saves all the video on a server system, usually monitored by evidence techs or IT folks. The only guaranties I can think of for an officer using the system if issued to them are the department’s leadership willing to enforce policy and the officer’s integrity. In addition to the AXON they would also probably have car cameras that turn on automatically under certain conditions.
The com hub is about the size of a large pager, the computer is the size of an iphone in a bulky case and the technology is only getting smaller, more robust and more secure. I have trouble seeing the size of the unit as a valid excuse to not employ it.
All law enforcement officers should be recorded on duty and the recordings stored for a minimum of five to ten years, it would protect honest cops and would help put away dishonest citizens.
Amen. Can always use the tired and wornout saying ‘if you’re not doing anything wrong what are you worried about.’
ps – Not for private citizens to be monitored all day but public servants.
Hmmmm. I’ll take it one step further…PLEASE make this mandatory for ALL politicians.
On balance, this sort of thing would be more likely to protect police from spurious brutality charges than it would be to get them in trouble.
very old vid of the 21 ft rule from the “street survival” seminar video tape. ( early 80’s?) the vid goes on to show real pic’s of officers cut open. Kind of cheesy now that I look back on it, but when I 1’st saw it, it really “drove the point” home.
http://kalimethod.com/blog/2011/5/4/dan-inosanto-21-foot-rule-video.html
helps if I add the link
I think Officers are just resistant of recording technology because they don’t want to be held accountable for the things that happen behind the scenes like the tragedy featured in this undercover footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j9qR8sgd-Nc
we’re on to you and your little song and dance…
Wow, glad I watched that video before I posted my rant.
damn, almost got you.
Tragedy is right, a boooo… That kind of thing is better left to high school kids lol
“Hey, put down that knife and don’t kill yourself or I’ll shoot you!”
LOL
But here’s my question. Why is it alright for a police officer to be monitored while on duty, but if you try to use a camera to record their activities many officers flip shit about putting your camera away?
Because the police control the officers camera and can manipulate the footage, while a civilians camera can show what the officers don’t want you to see. I guess in theory a civilian can doctor footage as well but it’s not as simple as shopping a pic so it probably isn’t in most people’s abilities.
Are you serious? You really think all the cops that get angry are selling bags of coke on the side or punching grandma as she walks across the street? I understand police corruption is real and going on every day but the fact of the matter is that law enforcement still has a better track record then preist.
I can guarun-fucking-tee you that if any major police department had the choice between destroying their dash cam footage of a cop kicking a handcuffed black guy or paying out millions of dollars in damages, they’re going to go with option 1. Private cameras take the power away from the word of the all mighty PD, and we can’t be questioning our overlords like that. Give me any other reason why the police would not want to be video taped. If they’re behaving it does absolutely nothing but makes them look good. You would think they would want as much footage of them as possible to show how important they are to society.
Why would you not just fire the officer if he acted out of the scope of policy. If he is stupid enough to put his job on the line because a subject was talking shit then that is on him. I agree sue him until he is broke, he earned it. I don’t agree that you should be able to sue the department because some officer snapped. And as for the Video by citizens please go ahead and post on youtube how you broke the law. Let my boss know that I am doing my job.
There’s a new 720p video camera system called ZionEyez that fits this entire rig into something looking like big hipster glasses frames, with internal memory, computer, and battery.
http://www.zioneyez.com/
There’s also the upcoming Google Goggles hardware that won’t be just a catchy name for “whip out a smartphone and look at things through it”
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=97825
Lastly, the Vuzix SMART glasses which are also designed for augmented reality, but have promised what amounts to night-vision sunglasses.
http://www.gizmag.com/vuzix-smart-glasses-ces-2012/21031/
The Taser system is starting to look a little passé these days, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
I live only a few miles out of Burnsville and I’m surprised that I hadn’t heard about this incident. Pretty cool stuff.