Hacker News Reader

Comment by jstanley | Hacker News Reader

Easy loophole: walk into a toilet and turn the camera off, then leave and conduct a traffic stop, then go back into the toilet, turn the camera back on, then leave again and go about your day.

The footage will show you walking into a toilet, turning the camera off, turning the camera back on again only an hour and a half later, and then leaving the toilet.

View on HN

and ... there's an available toilet on the side of the road where you pulled the person over? and it's not occupied? and the driver doesn't drive away while you're in there? and the driver doesn't make a complaint? and your dashcam (which can't be turned off) is recording the entire thing but nobody ever investigates the 90 minutes of missing footage during which time you were using the computer to look up information and/or write a citation?

I'm strongly in favor of strict requirements to use bodycams (to the point where I think if the cop/prosecutor doesn't have camera footage of the entire interaction, it should be grounds for case dismissal. But the above is some pretty conspiratorial level thinking

Right, so when there’s a lawsuit or investigation against the cop where they conducted a traffic stop at the time they were supposed to be in the toilet and there is no footage of this traffic stop, that should be instant evidence towards wrongdoing.

Except we now have timestamp technology.

And GPS. Retain location data during these periods and you’ve covered most of it.

My phone can already modify it's behavior based on my location. We could probably make a "PoliceCam" phone app, and they could tape a phone to the their vest.

The current bodycam contracts must be really expensive.

I mean, I'd just leave my body cam in the toilet for the GPS.

You must really believe judges are dumb. So when the traffic stop goes to court, and it shows you were sitting on the toilet for the entire duration of the stop, then either:

1. The traffic stop must have never happened, the defendant is cleared of all charges, or

2. You are committing perjury. You go to jail.

Sure, then they're left with a pretty incriminating pattern of behavior when someone objects to the officers behavior during that traffic stop.

This comment is such a great example of how most people would be terrible criminals.

Edit: by terrible I mean they'd be bad at not getting caught.

There's going to be a question about an hour and half later spent in the toilet.

Prevent the ability to turn it off for longer than x minutes and more than n times in a shift.

this sounds like a way to discriminate against people with legitimate medical issues, or even just people that drink a lot of water.

Drink less water or get a medical exemption? That's what the parameters are there for. But even with am exemption you can't be taking a piss for like an hour straight multiple hours a day and be a street cop, at least you should be doing admin duty.

At which point there’s going to be questions about why you were in the can for 90 minutes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com