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Originally Posted by KnifeMissile
Remember, Rodney King was brutally beaten by police officers in front of a camera and, ultimately, faced absolutely no consequences...
Video evidence is nice to have in court (although not as good as one might hope, see what happened to Rodney King) but, until you get there, it helps surprisingly little. For instance, a photograph of a suspect isn't nearly as useful as the name of a suspect. Plenty of unsolved crimes have been caught on video because there's no way to get a name from a face. Thus, video evidence is only really useful if you already know who the person on the video... |
They don't solve every case, but they have been proven to deter crime, especially certain types of crime - dealing, prostitution, theft most notably. Will they stop some loon going off his nut and shooting someone? Nope. That sort of crime is not rational and will not be deterred by rational means. But, as with the London bombers, it may help catch the bad guy afterwards, especially when video plus reward causes someone to turn the guy in.