Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Winter 2020-21 - 15

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citizen wrongly accused. While officers will not be equipped
with pre-cognitive abilities to stop murders from occurring, as
well-known science-fiction author Phillip K. Dick predicted for
a future America,xiv body-worn cameras will provide an insight
into many interactions between those charged. This technology
should help paint a clearer picture of incidents caught in real time
and situations where police arrive shortly after an incident occurs.
Such footage can be used by the prosecution to reiterate what
the officer put into his report or allow the officer to write a more
accurate report of the incident when reviewing the footage later.
Conversely, the defense will be able to show the inconsistencies
between the officer's report, and what actually occurred on camera.
While each side should argue why the footage supports their
position, it better allows the finder of fact to determine whom is
correct based on their own judgment.

	 Benefits can be seen in more than just evidentiary practices.
A study performed by the Orlando Police Department in
2014-15 found an 88 percent drop in abuse claims against the
Police.xv While other studies dispute this statistic,xvi, xvii there can
be little consensus at this time on the topic as too few studies
have been completed. We'll likely only know more as more body
cameras are placed into use and data is collected, analyzed, and
interpreted. However, by implementing body cameras it will put
more onus on the police and any other parties involved to produce
said video, not only to prove their case against the defendant, but
also to help show why any claims of brutality, excessive force, or
outright abuse are unfounded.

	 For prosecutors, the benefit is clear. Footage from body
cameras allows them to better interpret their evidence and
determine the proper charges to include on their Criminal
Informations, as well as how best to resolve the pending matter.
It will also help give color and picture to a report, allow for a
better understanding of the spacial awareness and surroundings
of a given interaction, and better allow an officer to explain
exactly how far away a Defendant was from the gun they found,
instead of eyeballing it from the counsel table and witness box
in a courtroom. The value of being able to reiterate the officer's
testimony with a play-by-play review from the front of that
officer's chest will help the Commonwealth argue the validity and
veracity of the officer's testimony.

	 That does not mean that the body-worn camera does
not come without flaws. Costs, logistics, and human error
are bound to throw wrenches in our millennia-old legal
machine.xviii While Berks can boast that it has handled a jury
trial that included presenting the jury with portions of body
camera footage, over time, the strain of large amounts of cases
containing such footage will likely have an effect on criminal
courtrooms.xix A large percentage of Pennsylvania courthouses
were built before the advent of body-worn cameras , and many
before the mass production of video equipment, which creates a
series of complications. Thus, as more police departments adopt
equipment that may need to be presented to the court, counties
must invest more into courtroom technology. This will take time
and precious resources, which many counties are hesitant to spend.
Continued on next page

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Berks County Bar Association The Berks Barrister Winter 2020-21

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