Body Cameras Threaten Federal Control of Chronology

Body cameras have emerged as a grave threat to the federal government’s traditional authority to explain shootings before evidence complicates the account. Border czar Tom Homan endorsed wider camera use following fatal encounters involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Texas and Maine, saying at least one officer should record vehicle stops “whenever possible.” Civil-liberties activists praised the devices’ most controversial feature: preserving the beginning, middle and end of an event in the order they occurred.

President Donald Trump warned that unedited chronology could unfairly privilege observable reality over the administration’s preferred sequence of events. “These cameras are very unfair because they record the beginning, middle and end instead of the beautiful official statement afterward,” Trump said. “Frankly, that is election interference by chronology, and a lot of very smart people agree with me.” Homan blamed Democratic lawmakers for delaying the rollout, establishing that congressional opposition had prevented armed federal agents from purchasing technology widely available at electronics stores, police suppliers and several airport vending machines. ICE plans to assign one camera to each arrest team, allowing operations involving multiple agents to be documented from a single authoritative angle behind somebody’s shoulder.

Administration officials stressed that cameras should not be confused with accountability. The devices will instead produce hours of raw footage from which the Department of Homeland Security can identify the three seconds most consistent with whatever it announced before reviewing the video. Any remaining material will undergo the established transparency process, including internal investigation, strategic redaction, privacy review, national-security consultation, technical malfunction and the eventual determination that an unidentified employee neglected to press “record.” Americans may then receive a comprehensive account after the officers have transferred, the supervisors have retired and the relevant records schedule has expired. The body-camera program has therefore guaranteed complete transparency by placing the evidence in the sole custody of the institution being scrutinized.

* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.