It is Orwellian what happened in Mpls Uptown, a shooting of a black man in his auto, without a single body cam video record. Body cams, without exception and, as a matter of course, always, has to be the rule to protect the public from police abuse, or at least to quell the incentive of cops to lie and cover up. It is insane the Marshal's Service does not use body cams and quells local police assistance from usage in joint operations.
It is sick.
Bodycam policies spark dispute with no video in Uptown shooting
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Monday that he's pulling his agency from a federal task force whose members shot and killed Winston Smith Jr. during an arrest operation in Uptown Minneapolis last week, saying they were forbidden to use body-worn cameras during the encounter and that the U.S. Marshals Service "has been misleading" in public comments suggesting otherwise.
The move comes amid increasing scrutiny of the lack of any known video of the encounter, whether from body cameras, squad-car dash cameras or parking ramp surveillance where the arrest occurred.
Smith, 32, of Minneapolis, was killed Thursday afternoon; authorities say he fired a gun from his vehicle as the task force attempted to arrest him on a warrant from Ramsey County [...]
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office initially said Monday that it would now have its members equipped with body-worn cameras while on these federal assignments. But in a follow-up statement later Monday, Fletcher said the federal agency "has been misleading in their public comments to the media."
"In Minnesota, the Marshals office has refused to allow us to wear body cameras since the advent of the technology, and any new policy has not been implemented," he said.
Fletcher said local law enforcement has made many requests to use the technology only to be denied. He said he was denied a request as recently as May 25 for his deputies to use body cameras on the task force, and that U.S. officials said they were "working on the problem."
[...] "However, much to my surprise, I received a voice mail [Monday] from U.S. Marshal Mona Dohman, in which she explains, 'It could take awhile for this to be approved ... so, your deputies still won't be allowed to use their body cameras ... until the onboarding process goes on,' " Fletcher said in a statement. "As a result of her voice mail, I have made the decision that Ramsey County Sheriff's Deputies will not participate with the Marshals Fugitive Task Force until body cameras are actually authorized."
Messages left for Dohman and U.S. Marshals Service spokespeople were not immediately returned.
[...] Meanwhile, Minnestota Rep. Sydney Jordan, DFL-Minneapolis, was briefed by state officials over the weekend and learned that Gov. Tim Walz's office was in contact with the White House and the U.S. Justice Department about Smith's death.
Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann confirmed what Jordan wrote and said, "The Governor's Office reached out to both the White House and the Department of Justice over the weekend, and has been pushing the federal government to provide Minnesotans with as much information as possible."
[...] In a telephone interview late Monday, Jordan said that she wants federal task force members and "every officer in the state of Minnesota to have a body camera."
Amen.
The lack of tangible body cam evidence of the event unfolding is Orwellian!
Particularly, in our day and age, misconduct being the currently well known problem it is. And with body cams being now the norm, nationwide, as best practice.
Klobuchar and Tina Smith might do something useful for a change, along these lines. It would add effectiveness if people everywhere were to pile on the Justice Department to rein in its cowboys.
A simple short Justice Department rule can be written requiring body cams, with dismissal from service being the penalty for wilful rule violation.
BOTTOM LINE: It should never have happened! What excuse is Marshal's Service using for not using body cams in each and every instance? So they can lie and obfuscate? What? How can they say the current practice is anything besides an ill-motivated Orwellian mood toward duty and obvious good sense?
A closing Hat Tip to Sheriff Fletcher for taking the correct stance, now. Forceful opposition earlier would have been best; but hindsight is 20/20, and Fletcher deserves the benefit of doubt, this instance.