My concern is that 'always on' body cameras where the footage is instantly available to the public may lead to retribution by the accused against the accuser. "Snitches get stitches" style. So the public may be less likely to talk to police when they know that their conversation will be available to the bad guys eventually. I'm still not sure what to do about that.
I do not have the same concerns that you do, below. I simply do not trust the police to police themselves. They back the blue in too many cases and public knowledge of their behavior is the only check on that behavior. Police oppose every meaningful reform designed to curb their own corruption.
The evidence is overwhelming the public is unquailed to judge if a police behaved properly and the press is either unwilling to help or just as unqualified which should hardly be surprising if you have spent time with a journalist major.
The should be cross department reviews and oversight of the footage but BLM has shown us how much facts matter in these cases. How many people want to not only have to make split second life or death decisions but then have it recorded and judged in the court of public opinion? Cops are far from perfect but make that job so grossly unappealing and dangerous to not just your life but your personal liberty and families well being will do nothing but give us a lower caliber of police officer because the best qualified will choose other options. Would you take a job a police officer under the current environment? I looked at hard about twenty years ago and I am damn glad I decided against it.
To answer your question, I definitely would not take a job as a police officer, but for a different reason than you offer. Non-corrupt officers who tell the truth about corruption amongst their coworkers are frozen out, threatened, harassed, and even killed. I don't believe I'm corrupt enough to be a cop in the current environment. So a good cop like Miami cop Donna Watts who was harassed and run out of town after arresting another cop who drove at 122 mph through her district (not for an emergency, but because he was late for his other job and he was NOT rolling code, just weaving through traffic with his lights and sirens off). Also, the year I moved to Atlanta my sheriff-elect Derwin Brown was assassinated on orders from the outgoing sheriff in his driveway. Because they couldn't have him cleaning up corruption in that agency and exposing the outgoing sheriff's criminality.
No. I would not want to be a police officer.
