Ladra loves police body cameras. I mean, what’s not to like?
We have the technology to capture the cops interacting 
with victims and culprits and it gives us a glimpse into both how hard their job is and how some of them may abuse their role. It serves as a deterrent to both the officer, who might now count to ten, and the mouthy drunk that might not want to be on the late night news getting into it with a cop. There’s no reason not to use them if you can. Body cams are a good thing — when used properly and the video is stored in such a way that it is accessible to whoever wants it.
Heck, I wish we could put them on everybody. Firefighters. Meter readers. Procurement officers. Electeds. In fact, can someone please sponsor an ordinance where a lobbyist has to put one on as she or he enters County Hall? Commissioner Levine Cava?
But at $1 million a year one has to wonder if this is a police priority our budget can afford. Especially right now, when we have shootings almost every other day and another child killed about every week on our streets.
Body cameras won’t stop the shootings. They make for good headlines, however. Miami-Dade is now the largest department nationwide to use body cameras. It makes us look good. But only on the surface.
Read related story: Body cams are swell — but put one on the mayor, too
Miami-Dade Commissioners, at the direction of Mayor Carlos Gimenez, voted last week to spend more than 
$1 million a year on body cameras for our police officers for an approved total of $5.4 million over the next five years. This is mostly for storage and maintenance since the cameras themselves aren’t that expensive. At $300 a pop (which is high, because the county ought to be getting a bulk rate), the 1,500 cameras would cost $450,000. So that’s $4.5 million or so for storage and maintenance? Doesn’t that seem high?
What did commissioners do about the crime that is creeping into our neighborhoods and the shootings that have become commonplace? How much went to increased patrols or a special task force to focus on this youth gun crime? Absolutely nada.
Oh, sure, there is talk about mentoring programs and that’s as good as body cameras — it won’t stop the bleeding going on now. Especially since the Florida legislature just passed a law that requires the department to have a policy before it implements the program.
Read related story: Politicos want to shield body cam footage from us
Only one thing will put a stop to the violence that is not just limited to Liberty City and Miami Gardens. There was a shooting the other day at The Falls, fam. The freaking Falls!
We need more police on the street. We need more experienced police to stay in the department. We need specialized units like the gang unit and the robbery intervention detail to be restored so that they can stop these things from happening.
And we need a mayor who will recognize that he made a mistake in 2014 when he dismantled all the specialized units, a mayor who will acknowledge that, yes, there has been a spike in violent crime and a mayor who will take responsibility for it and make real changes that do make a difference in addressing the needs we have right now.
Miami-Dade: Body cameras won’t stop shootings, deaths added by Ladra on
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Ladra should run for office, and unlike “Got-a-Point’, she doesn’t depend on a county salary
Yes, Ladra keep writing and writing and writing.
Love,
From Ladra herself and the Raquelita Regalado Campaign who write under different anonymous names to make it seem like they are supporting this article.
PATHETIC!
Ladra you have become one of them. A typical South Florida Politician. No ethics!
Good Article Ladra! Keep it up.
The problem is not money: Most of the positions are funded. Rather, Gimenez plays with the budget and purposely keeps the department short-handed.
Ultimately, it will catch up to him and the ommunity for it is not easy to find qualified candidates. For every 100 applicants, only two or three end up wearing the badge. Unless, Gimenez lowers the standards to get more bodies in the door.
To make up for the shortage, officers are sometimes working back-to-back eight-hour shifts, leaving them exhausted and raising safety concerns.
“Nacho Libre” is spot on! And so are you Ladra, when you suggest that cameras be put on Lobbyists who enter, or do business, with County Hall
Ladra: please write about the people around Carlos Gimenez. Some have been arrested for drugs, others are connected to money launders who have served time in prison. others have a long list criminal charges. one is even a suspect in a murder. please Ladra, please.
Ladra,
When are you going to write a negative article on Raquelita Regalado? That is right you WON’T because you have a conflict of interest. ARE YOU NOT REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE THIS IS A POLICITCALLY PAID ADVERTISEMEMT BY THE CAMPAIGN OF RAQUELITA REGALADO. MAYBE IT IS TIME TO FILE AN ETHICS COMPLAINT WITH BOTH THE STATE OF FLORIDA AND MIAMI-DADE COMMISSION.
Why don’t you write how Art Noriega, the Executive Director of the Miami Parking Authority good long time friend Oscar Rivero can afford enrolling his son at Belen Jesuit. If you recall, Rivero a convicted felon, makes money through the various contracts affiliated with the Miami Parking Authority. So technically Raquelita Regalado’s father is associated with a criminal enterprise as this is happening under his watch.
Well, unless Miami Dade Voters bestow the Strong Mayor’s awesome responsibilities on Raquel Regalado, and she embraces them with Jesuit zeal, it will be business as usual with Gimenez for the next four years. Unless, of course, we eventually RECALL him as we did Carlos Alvarez! Body cameras on “some police officers; not all” is a placebo to mollify the black community whom Gimenez needs to get re-elected, but has neglected, particularly as it pertain to violent crimes. The body count is self-evident. Whether equipped with a body camera or not, when a police officer encounters a situation wherein he or she reasonably belief his or her life is in peril, the officer will use the force necessary to stop the threat on his or her life.
Should Miami Dade voters honor Raquel Regalado; trusting her with duty of being our next County Mayor, she will need to recruit and surround herself with a professional cadre which will complement her; not compliment her, particularly in policing. Since Gimenez seized power, he has methodically decimated the Miami Dade Police Department (MDPD) and in spite the recent addition of 100 newly graduated police officers, it will take time and decisive managerial acumen to ignite MDPD’s resurgence from Gimenez’ created quagmire. Reader must know that it generally takes 18 months for a newly graduated police officer to become somewhat proficient; if he or she makes it through the year-long probationary period or along the way finds that policing is not for them, it happens.
Public safety is likely county government’s most significant budget item; why as Miami Dade de facto Sheriff, Raquel Regalado must seize the authority granted sheriffs under FSS 30.49 – Budgets, submitting a separate budget for Public Safety and another for all other County Services. By bifurcating the budget Raquel Regalado will have significant latitude in wisely requesting and allocating Public Safety dollars; all is detailed within the below cited link.
We hear politicos and bureaucrats effusively flaunt the term “Community Policing” as if it were the “silver bullet” for all the crime and disorder afflicting our communities. It is not! It is a philosophy that must emanate from the police chief down to the most junior police officer on patrol. Nowhere is that emergence more urgent than in MDPD districts, for there is where the community meets MDPD. The Community too must embrace Community Policing, for it takes two to tango and so long as the community remains reticent, there will be no Community Policing; not an effective one anyway. Sadly most MDPD Districts are woefully understaffed; barely allowing patrol officers going from call for service to the next to do anything else. Added staffing and responsibilities must be devolved to the districts, as well as more accountability for the effective utilization of such added resources.
Finally, it will be interesting to read who is the lobbyist or lobbyists championing the body cameras procurement. Did Bids for Proposals go out, was there a keen adherence to the “cone of silence,” or were such purchasing requisites circumvented for the expediency of the all too frequent “sole source” provider?
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0000-0099/0030/Sections/0030.49.html