Artificial intelligence tools cannot fix the systemic problems of policing, writes professor Christopher Schneider, but better policies and legislation might. Public access to police disciplinary records must exist in all jurisdictions and should absolutely include language that closes loopholes that attempt to conceal police misconduct from public view.

The practice of releasing body camera footage will continue to remain foremost in the interests of police especially when they continue to retain control over the footage. While body cameras will never solve the problem of police violence, it should not be up to the police to decide when and how footage is released as a legitimacy tool to leverage public support of police actions.

The public entrusts school administrators to safeguard their children. Ideally, the practice of allowing anyone—let alone susceptible children—to socialize with police K-9s in classrooms should end. Nevertheless, an investigation could lead to the development of necessary policies and safety precautions to ensure that no child in a classroom is ever bitten by a police dog.

As police services continue to adopt and roll-out body-worn cameras, it is inevitable that the public will become more aware of police actions imprinted on the footage they record. What remains unclear is how the police can be held accountable by the use of body-worn cameras when the “official” narrative is manufactured and controlled by police themselves.

As of April 2021, approximately 900 Kansas City officers have worn body cameras at a cost of around $4 million a year. The expectation that outfitting police officers with body cameras was to somehow improve or restore police legitimacy is misguided at best, especially in the context of the long and storied history of outright police lies and dishonesty.

Bystander recordings of use of force, including videos as brazen as the one recorded by Mr. Korchinski Beals, bring immediate attention to police behaviour, offering transparency and accountability in situations where the public cannot expect the police will necessarily share camera footage, let alone activate their body-worn cameras.

An unsettling trend in law enforcement is occurring whereby police officers are weaponizing copyrighted music to thwart bystander recordings of police from going viral. During a recent exchange with Black Lives Matter activists, a sheriff’s deputy in California was caught pulling out his phone to soundtrack the interaction with Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space.”

Although body-worn cameras have become widespread in law enforcement agencies across the United States, taxpayers have continued to bear the brunt of the financial costs associated with police accountability. Officers should absolutely be held accountable for bad behaviour caught on body cameras but the public should not be expected to continue to subsidize it.

Proper respect is earned, not given or forced. Increased police force whether through the use of violence in response to protest speech, as a result of perceived disrespectful encounters with citizens, or labeling public criticism of police actions that result in death as “hate speech” will never bring any moral authority or more respect to police. Indeed, it will surely do just the opposite.

Following the circulation of a recent video of a violent altercation with police, Montréal mayor Valérie Plante has renewed calls for police body-worn cameras. The cameras are also currently being discussed in Winnipeg. Viral videos on social media have arguably done more for police transparency and accountably than body-worn cameras.