An officer questions a man about the holster he is wearing. As the man produces his gun license, a female cop charges toward him. He reacts, tries to regain his balance and in the end, they shoot him.
Body cameras from several officers record the event, but without audio because none of the officers followed policy to activate their cameras. The department excuses the lapses with “if circumstances prevent activating the BWC at the beginning of an incident” but from the video released sofar it doesnt appear that any of the officers were "prevented" from pushing the button on their lapel cameras as they are required to do.
Though police officials inserted a freeze-frame into the video snippet released Sunday to ensure that everyone watching could see the dark-colored pistol holstered on Augustus’ right hip, they made no such clarifying enhancement to the moment when the card is partially visible protruding from his wallet.
https://thinkprogress.org/chicago-police-body-camera-videos-harith-augustus-killing-bf4660b12f2c/How much editing should be allowed when releasing "raw" video? Redacting faces is one thing, but these videos are manipulated to emphasize specific talking points, not to protect the identity of the innocent.
Policy calls for camera activation at the moment of contact with a citizen, but none of the officers did that, or just the officers whose video hasnt been made public?
The Body Worn Camera policy needs improvement if it can be routinely interpreted in a way that defeats the purpose of having cameras in the first place.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-fatal-police-shooting-videos-augustus-20180717-story.html