Video - a prerequisite for justice?

From the Truth...Not Taser blog regarding the RCMP testimony at the Dziekanski Inquiry.


This is like deja vu all over again. Only the names have changed. Change "RCMP" to the "Vancouver Police Department" and change "Robert Dziekanski" to "Robert Bagnell" (my brother) and you get the same collaborated, fabricated and misleading Cover Your Asses testimony that my family was forced to swallow at a coroner's inquest. Unfortunately, we did NOT have the benefit of video to help the Vancouver police refresh their memories. It sickens me to see this happening again. The lying bastards! There is no justice in Canada when someone dies in police custody. [LINK]

Unless there happens to be a camera rolling, and even then the justice may be only a small fraction of what it should be, by any normal standards.


Lawyers in Canada should conduct their cross examination of RCMP witlesses (sorry, witnesses) while subtly fondling a little memory card of the sort used in cell phones to record video. Ask the yellow-striped member, "Are you really sure that's exactly what happened?", while tapping the little memory card against the edge of the witness box.


Another issue worthy of further consideration:

There have been reports of police harassing or threatening members of the public that dare to take pictures or record video of a police action (such as an arrest).

It even happens in Canada...

See the Bank Street Bully. [LINK]


It is clear and obvious that such public video recording of police actions which may occur in public locations must be an explicitly protected (and encouraged) activity.

Apparently such video recordings are a critical factor in ensuring that the actual truth, as distinct from the official truth, is revealed.

Given the crazy discrepancies between the statements, the sworn testimony, and the video, as revealed during the Dziekanski Inquiry - it should be completely intolerable for the police to attempt to stop a video recording.


I'll give the RCMP full credit for at least one thing related to this video. At least they didn't destroy the Dziekanski video evidence in the way that the CIA, as recently admitted, destroyed the 92 video tapes of their various torture sessions.