美国国家公共电台 NPR New Baltimore Police Scandal Threatens Criminal Cases

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Hundreds of criminal cases in Baltimore are in jeopardy¹ after two incidents picked up by police body cameras show officers allegedly planting drug evidence. So far more than 40 criminal cases have been dropped because of the videos. The cases mostly involved drug- and weapons-related felonies. Public defenders⁴ say hundreds more could end up being dismissed. Police and the state's attorney's office in Baltimore are investigating. The cases also bring up larger questions about the use of police body cam video. NPR's Eric Westervelt has our report.

ERIC WESTERVELT, BYLINE⁵: When a Baltimore police officer hits record on his body camera, the device saves the preceding 30 seconds but without audio. So it's possible the officer in the first video didn't realize he was being recorded when he appears to place a small baggie filled with white capsules in a trash-strewn lot between homes. He then turns the already recording⁶ device on and returns to get the drugs allegedly linked to a suspect already in custody⁷. The audio kicks in as his two police colleagues appear to laugh.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RICHARD PINHEIRO: I'm going to go check here. Hold on.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER #1: (Laughter).

WESTERVELT: And a second video from a traffic stop appears to show Baltimore officers searching a car a second time and finding baggies of drugs that didn't seem to be there during the first search.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER #2: Oh, yeah, oh, yeah - oh, my God, I knew it.

WESTERVELT: But public defenders discovered the videos, not lawyers in the state's attorney's unit devoted⁸ solely⁹ to reviewing and disseminating¹⁰ body camera footage. They apparently¹¹ missed the videos, as did the police unit charged with reviewing hours and hours of body cam footage.

DEBBIE KATZ LEVI: Who's policing the police? And how are these incidents getting past the review unit? There's no excuse for it.

WESTERVELT: That's Debbie Katz Levi, the director of special litigation for Baltimore's Office of the Public Defender³. Katz Levi says these cases raise deeply troubling questions about what state prosecutors¹² are doing with police body cam evidence before they bring a case to a grand jury.

KATZ LEVI: Are they leaving this out when they go to the grand jury? Those proceedings¹³ are secret. We don't know. These two camera footage incidents show us with certainty that incidents of misconduct or alleged² misconduct are being missed. So what is the state's attorney's office going to do to fix it? What is the police department going to do to fix it?

WESTERVELT: The police say the internal affairs division is investigating. The Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office says the three officers in the first video are involved in at least 123 criminal arrests. Several dozen of those so far have been dismissed. The public defender's office says it thinks hundreds of other criminal cases may be tossed as well.

A central issue nationally is when officers turn on and off their cameras. Most departments have clear rules, as Baltimore does, that say body cams need to stay on while they're still at the scene of an incident and only turned off if a member of the public requests it. But there's a troubling lack of accountability when officers don't follow those guidelines, says Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst¹⁴ with the American Civil Liberties Union.

JAY STANLEY: Around the country, we're seeing big issues in body cameras around access to footage. And also, we're seeing widespread cases of officers not complying with policies, not turning their cameras on when they're supposed to be, turning them off too soon or turning them off in the middle of encounters and not facing any consequences from police management.

WESTERVELT: But Baltimore's police commissioner¹⁵, Kevin Davis, says it's wrong to assume the worst before investigators¹⁶ are done. Davis chalks it up to growing pains of introducing a new technology just 14 months ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

COMMISSIONER KEVIN DAVIS: When those gaps in video footage exist, it's ugly. What was there? I don't know. I didn't see it. The camera was on. Now it's off. So does that mean that when the camera was off, some type of criminal misconduct was taking place by police officers? I think that's a conclusion that we just can't jump to.

WESTERVELT: But the problem has cropped up in cities across the country in police arrests, drug cases and fatal shootings. In Minneapolis this summer, an Australian woman was shot and killed by an officer as she approached a squad¹⁷ car after calling 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her home. The officer's body camera was not turned on as required by the department. Eric Westervelt, NPR News.

1 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 defender   

n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人

参考例句：

• He shouldered off a defender and shot at goal.他用肩膀挡开防守队员，然后射门。
• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。

4 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》

5 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。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

8 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

9 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

10 disseminating   

散布，传播( disseminate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Our comrades in propaganda work have the task of disseminating Marxism. 我们作宣传工作的同志有一个宣传马克思主义的任务。
• Disseminating indecent photographs on the internet a distasteful act. 在因特网上发布不雅照片是卑劣的行径。

11 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

12 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

13 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

14 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

15 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

16 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。