You Know It's A Crazy, Mixed Up World

When one of the primary tools of a police state, surveillance, comes back to haunt the police. In the last few weeks, I've seen a couple of stories that highlight the new danger police face: Someone is almost always watching you.

We first really saw its power in the Rodney King case, but now surveillance cameras (aka "security cameras") are becoming ubiquitous. It's getting to the point where a corrupt cop can't even go about his/her business without having to deal with perjury charges. Take for example these two recent cases:

• Drug suspects’ defense against NYPD? Video
• Accused of lying, officer suspended
• Surveillance video shows police beating man in elevator (more on this one "But after seeing the video obtained by Ortiz's defense attorney, Stephen Melnick, prosecutors downgraded the charge to a misdemeanor resisting charge. Upon further review, prosecutors dropped the case entirely". And of course the kicker: "Fort Lauderdale police internal affairs investigators reviewed the incident more than a month ago and found no violations of policy or procedures, said Sgt. Frank Sousa, the department's spokesman."

So how is it going to be fixed? Your guess is as good as mine. For the hand-held camera, we have already seen that police are very willing to arrest the camera-man for interfering with 'police business'. However, stationary cameras present a unique problem. I think maybe we'll see a wave of Security Camera Legislation requiring a lengthy process to get a permit from the police to use a security camera. But until then, I'm sure these stories will just keep on rolling in.