355sigfan said:
Not all departments have the luxary of a SWAT team.
Of course they don't, the patrol officers arrive at the scene and assess the situation. If there is a barricaded suspect, and by barricaded I mean they're not going anywhere, the arriving officers call for back-up, scene commanders arrive assume control etc...
Some departments have SWAT from larger departments out on loan in situations such as this; some do not have that luxury. Some departments have what amounts to a tactical response team that while not up to par with SWAT per se; they do have more training and some different tools for different jobs. Anyway, the point is, it does not jive with normal police procedure for the first responder to Rambo it up and run in to engage a barricaded suspect (some rare exceptions may apply), so having the gun cam as part of a the regular patrol officer's daily arsenal is moot. To have this available to them incase of a situation such as this if they do not have the luxury of a SWAT team...well, now we're talking special circumstances, not the average day of a patrol officer's life. Again, this should not be standard issue, and you fail to offer any arguments as to why it should other than pulling the "cop basher" card where it is not relevant and saying police work is dangerous.
I have faced barricaded gunmen as a patrol officer before I got any swat training.
Since you have left the thread, I doubt you'll answer (heck, you failed to answer most any question asked of you while you were participating), but I would ask you to describe this encounter. What you said there can mean so many things. The odd thing is, you survived (I am admittedly assuming here, please let us know if you're dead and I made a mistake) despite not having a gun-mounted camera. So again, how useful is this particular tool for the majority of police work?
Your run of the mill patrolmen as you so rudely put it have the riskiest jobs.
What is so rude about the term "run of the mill patrolman"? Was it because it seems sexist? I should have used patrol
person I suppose. I apologize, I did not mean to offend anyone. If there is something else, I fail to see how it offends otherwise.
They are the first responders. They often don't know what the situations is before they arrive. They are often outgunned and behind the power curve.
No doubt, but cameras mounted to guns will not alleviate these issues any better than fiber optic snake cams do or will. You haven't given an argument for the case for these devices other than,
this is dangerous work and I want them. That just doesn't cut it. Now when you start arguing for infrared vision devices, I'll agree with you because those would make a difference...just don't mount them on guns.
They are the ones risking their lives so you can sleep soundly at night.
Okay, this I have to stop you on. One, police officers
have no duty to protect anyone. Two, I sleep soundly at night because I have dual security doors, I sleep with a .45 and a .308 auto loading rifle next to me and I am one heck of a shot. I don't sleep better at night because the police can come to my home after a crime is committed and write a report.
I realize that police work is dangerous, but let's not make it out to be something it's not. Policemen and women are not our guardian angels, they have no duty to protect us, they have very little ability to protect us in our homes and their only ability to protect us outside of our homes rests on the chance that a patrol car will be riding by at the moment that something bad happens or that they arrive to the scene of a call before anything really bad happens, or before it gets worse. They do their best, and that's all we can ask, but let's not have any unrealistic expectations of them '
protecting us so we can sleep soundly at night'.
Our police officers do not patrol Beirut or Kabul. The streets are not running with blood, the US is not a war zone. There are some good areas; there are some bad areas. To make every 'burgh, 'burb and beat that an officer can work in sound like Watts is dishonest, it's not like that.
So a little respect is in order.
I'm sorry, you seem to have confused the term "respect" with the idea of ass-kissing. I won't kiss your ass because you were a cop somewhere at some time. I could care less. With your attitude, you might as well have been the mop guy at a peep show joint as far as I am concerned. I give respect when it is earned, wearing a badge does not earn that respect,
how you serve does. When you serve with the attitude that
your safety is more important than mine, you can kiss any hope of respect goodbye, you haven't earned it. I respect the profession, it's up to the individuals to show that they are professionals through their actions and thus deserve such respect.
I am tired of arguing with people like yourself who are simply lack adiquate knowledge on the subject to talk intelligently.
What have I said that is unintelligent? You have failed to provide any argument whatsoever. I obviously have plenty of knowledge on the subject as you cannot seem to muster even one sentence to counter any point I have made with anything other than cries of "cop basher' and saying police work is terribly dangerous, respect us and give us whatever we want without question because we protect you and we are above reproach - which just doesn't cut it. I've spent nearly 10 years being involved with various law enforcement communities, just because I don't ride around in a black and white and wear a badge does not mean I am completely shielded from experiences with law enforcement. What I am saying here is no different than what a number of national sources on police ethics and training, folks more qualified than you as I understand it, have been saying.
You didn't even bother to try and counter the only source I offered up, because you can't. You have no argument, you simply want whatever you want, the safety of others be damned and you think that cops should be able to operate without question with their own safety being paramount. Sorry pal, no dice. Cops are public servants, you guys should remember who it is that you serve.
Have a day.