Body Cameras

Axon announced Thursday that it will ban the technology because it is not reliable enough for law enforcement, especially when it comes to identifying women and people of color.

Technology has often been proposed as the solution to controversial policing practices. But reporter Matt Stroud says new innovations embraced by law enforcement can present their own problems.

A lawyer has released body cam footage from January showing police hitting a man and later mocking him as he lies bleeding. It's the department's third use-of-force controversy this month.

The Mesa Police Department is investigating footage from May 23 that shows officers hitting a black man in the face as he stood against a wall.

That's the conclusion of a study performed as Washington, D.C., rolled out its huge program. The city has one of the largest forces in the country, with some 2,600 officers now wearing cameras.

12 of the devices were found in Stephen Paddock's hotel room. The ATF says bump stocks, although used for the purpose of "simulating automatic fire," are legal under current federal law.

The officer has been suspended and two others are on administrative duty, Baltimore Police say. The public defender's office is questioning the officer's involvement in 53 active cases.

There is a growing perception that body cameras, now generating millions of hours of footage, are there less to keep tabs on police, and more to keep tabs on the public.

Police departments in about 95 percent of cities nationally have put wearable cameras on officers, or soon plan to. But do these body cameras make neighborhoods safer? Scientists want to find out.

Axon, which is the name of the company's line of body cameras, says it will send law enforcement agencies one body camera per sworn officer to use for a year.

In the era of body cameras and cellphones, the act of seeing police do their job is radically altering the public-police relationship, and changing civilian and police behavior and perceptions alike.