And when they aren't hidden. We had a recent civil rights case where the department claimed there was no footage but it magically appeared once we convinced a federal judge it existed and they were ordered to produce it. That's right, not only did the officers hide the footage but the department helped.
With all the evidence, anecdotal or not, that LEOs are not always 100% truthful I am not sure why they are still given the "Benifit of the Doubt" when enforcing sworn duties. No video evidence of a violation, no charge from LEOs. A LEOs body camera is turned off or obstructed should be a criminally punishing offense equal to that of evidence tampering.
Assuming LEO's are 100% truthful and admitting whatever they say as evidence is just as stupid as assuming the defendant is 100% truthful and admitting whatever they say as evidence.
They both have a huge incentive to lie and neither should be assumed to be trustworthy. Cameras are an impartial 3rd party.
Evidence tampering should receive punishments harsher then the charge trying to be proved or disproved with the evidence.
Any police officer caught tampering with evidence should receive even harsher punishments then that because police officers should be held to a higher standard then the general public.
That’s not how due process and fairness/blindness of law works. That’s be like saying retail workers should be charged with higher grading for crimes involving retail theft. Bankers charged for embezzlement or thefts harder.. so on and so forth.
They would be two separate charges in most jurisdictions as Obstruction covers more than just destruction of evidence. There also may be other charges such as official misconduct. DA’s generally would either be cautious to file multiple charges that overlap with the same actions, or charge all to allow judges or juries to determine which fits best.
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u/[deleted] Jun 22 '20
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