美国国家公共电台 NPR New Orleans' Police Use Of Body Cameras Brings Benefits And New Burdens

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Body cameras have become routine in some police departments. In New Orleans, some say they've had a positive effect on law enforcement culture. But as NPR's Martin Kaste reports, they've also created new burdens.

MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE¹: One place where they've really noticed the cameras' effect is the Orleans Public Defenders² Office. Danny Engelberg is the chief of trials here, and he says he can plainly see how the cameras are changing the behavior of the cops.

DANNY ENGELBERG: They can't get away with some of the practices they used to. I mean, we used to see busting³ into people's houses, going into people's cars, just coming up to people and searching them. And we just aren't seeing as much of that.

KASTE: For instance, he says his office used to get a lot of dropsies. That's what he calls the cases in which a cop claims to have seen a defendant⁴ drop or toss away illegal drugs.

ENGELBERG: You know, there was really nothing you could do other than saying the police are making that up with those cases.

KASTE: When the only record of an arrest was a written report, it was hard to verify the officer's version. But now that there's also video, Engelberg says dropsy cases are much rarer. So he's enthusiastic about the cameras, but he has to admit that, for his lawyers, they also come with a major downside.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Unintelligible).

KASTE: His lawyers now have to spend hours every week watching videos. Stas Moroz is one of those young attorneys here, and he gets a lot of drug cases, which means a lot of time staring at his computer screen.

STAS MOROZ: It's like reality TV for police officers. Sometimes they're more entertaining than others. Sometimes they're like listening to music or chit-chatting or you can see police officers flirting⁵ with the witnesses.

KASTE: But mostly the videos are tedious. That's because they include everything - the time it takes the cop to take statements, write reports and drive the defendants⁶ to jail. And Moroz can't afford to just fast-forward to the good stuff.

MOROZ: Sometimes we're forced to, but that's not good practice. And I feel terrible about it because then I'll watch it the second or third go around maybe at a later stage in the case, and then I'll realize that I missed something significant.

KASTE: He has to watch it all, he says - sometimes repeatedly - from the perspective of the cameras of each of the officers involved in an arrest. It's all hugely time-consuming, and that's especially difficult in an underfunded public defender's office, which has actually been sued by inmates⁷ who say they didn't get sufficient legal counsel. And it's not just the lawyers. Police supervisors⁹ have also now had to carve out time for watching videos.

DANNY MURPHY: We mandate¹⁰ that they review any incident that results in a use of force, a misconduct complaint or any type of injury.

KASTE: Danny Murphy is the deputy chief for compliance¹¹. He oversees¹² the department's efforts to reform itself as part of a consent decree with the Justice Department. And he sees video supervision¹³ as a piece of that process.

MURHPY: We also conduct random¹⁴ video reviews. It's great to have supervisors on scene, but there's also something special about being able to supervise through the video when the supervisor⁸ is not on scene.

KASTE: Supervisors are supposed to watch 30 videos a month. They are allowed to skip to the good parts, but it's still a lot of time in a police department that's severely¹⁵ short-staffed and overburdened. The supervision via video may also be undermining officer morale¹⁶. Cops feel nitpicked, says Donovan Livaccari. He's the lawyer for the local Fraternal Order of Police.

DONOVAN LIVACCARI: It leads to a lot of Monday-morning quarterbacking, which I don't - I really don't think it's fair. You know, you're talking about somebody who's in the heat of a situation who's taking the actions that they think are best at the time versus¹⁷ somebody who's had the opportunity to review a video 20 times before making a judgment¹⁸.

KASTE: Still, New Orleans cops are getting pretty good about turning on the cameras when they're supposed to - nearly 100 percent of the time according to internal audits¹⁹. But with that kind of compliance comes a sea of video and the realization²⁰ that body cameras can do a lot of good. But they're definitely not an example of a new technology that saves people time. Martin Kaste, NPR News, New Orleans.

(SOUNDBITE OF ST. SOUTH'S "SLACKS")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 busting   

打破，打碎( bust的现在分词 )； 突击搜查（或搜捕）； （使）降级，降低军阶

参考例句：

• Jim and his wife were busting up again yesterday. 吉姆和他的妻子昨天又吵架了。
• He figured she was busting his chops, but it was all true. 他以为她在捉弄他，其实完全是真的。

4 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

5 flirting   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Don't take her too seriously; she's only flirting with you. 别把她太当真，她只不过是在和你调情罢了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• 'she's always flirting with that new fellow Tseng!" “她还同新来厂里那个姓曾的吊膀子！ 来自子夜部分

6 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

7 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

9 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

10 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

11 compliance   

n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从

参考例句：

• I was surprised by his compliance with these terms.我对他竟然依从了这些条件而感到吃惊。
• She gave up the idea in compliance with his desire.她顺从他的愿望而放弃自己的主意。

12 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

13 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

14 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

15 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

16 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

17 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

18 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

19 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

20 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。