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(Pride Article)

CRIME AND VIDEOTAPE

The videotape is beginning to prove that it may be the greatest equalizer in the investigation of criminal conduct ever invented. Until relatively recently, it was almost impossible to convict a police officer who was charged with assaulting a person he or she had arrested. The arrested person could have a broken nose, broken ribs, would be bloodied all over and the judges and or juries would still believe the word of the police officer.
Police officers were indeed rarely if ever charged with assaulting an arrested or dead person (killed by the police). The arrested person would be the one usually charged with assault and resist arrest and the judges and or juries would invariably convict. The dead person would have his character smeared by the police.
Enter the great equalizer- the videotape. Rodney King was beaten senseless by the LAPD in the early 90s and the drama was captured on TV. When the police involved were acquitted by an all white jury, the people rioted. It was too much to stomach. The acquitted police officers were
eventually convicted by the Federal Court on the same charges they were acquitted of
in state court on account of the videotape evidence.

In Canada, on July 27th,  2005, a police officer named Preston was convicted by a judge in Brampton for assaulting one Jama Jama on the strength of videotape evidence. The police officer is seen running towards Jama Jama and forcefully punching him in the face. Jama Jama is seen as not offering any resistance whatsoever.
Instead it is Jama Jama who had initially been charged with assaulting the police and resisting arrest. The tables were turned around when the videotape (always taken by a stranger seeing unusual events unfolding in front of them) surfaced showing a different set of circumstances. The officer was charged instead. In spite of the videotape, the police officer offered fierce resistance to the charge. We will see what sentence he will get.
If Jama Jama was convicted he would likely have faced an Immigration Inquiry and ordered deported. A conviction for assaulting police is deadly as far as Immigration Canada goes. Without the videotape, Jama Jama would have gone down, albeit an innocent man.
In early August 2005, in Ottawa, a police officer pleaded guilty to assaulting a helpless woman he had arrested and only because the videotape showed that the officer appeared to be pummeling the helpless woman to the police cruiser. Thumps are heard as the woman is being pummeled,
according to the reports in the media. The Judge gave the police officer a
conditional discharge, meaning no criminal record. It is safe to say that without
the videotape, the police officer would have escaped the net of justice.
Police forces across Canada and the US have resisted the installation of video cameras in police cruisers. You now know why. A lot is going on in there and around police arrest scenes. No need to self-tape your own downfall.

Munyonzwe Hamalengwa
practices criminal and immigration law.
 

Member of:

riminal Lawyers Association                                                   The Law Society Of Upper Canada

                                         Last Modified: October 30th , 2005

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