Body-worn-camera policies provide a glimpse of future technology-related challenges

Would you want a criminal to be able to see the inside of your house simply by filing a freedom of information or open records request? How about a place of business that may be working on projects that may be proprietary? Meanwhile, just the knowledge that the company is involved in some kind of investigation—even innocently as an ancillary informant—could be leveraged from a strategic purpose by a competitor.

Finally, a fundamental truth of police work is that you need information from people who are associated, directly or indirectly, with perpetrators of crime to help prevent it. It can be very difficult to get convince these people to talk about wrongdoings and suspected actions of people who are very dangerous—the kind of people who cause great property loss, bodily harm or even death to an informant.

Now, consider the notion of an officer with an always-on camera trying to convince an informant to talk to talk about a sensitive situation. Unlike a direct conversation with an officer in a private setting, putting statements on video would put a damper on most informants. If the video is open to the public, no one would blame such informants for not talking at all to officers wearing body cameras.

Yes, there are policies and technical solutions that could address many of these issues, from redactions on video to myriad policies regarding the use of body-worn cameras. But the wide variety of approaches being tried in jurisdictions throughout the country is an indication that we are far from being in agreement on what the "right" answers are.

There are no easy answers, and police body cameras are only the tip of the technology iceberg. As we move into a world where drones, self-driving cars and the Internet of Things—most of which will not be publicly owned—the policy, legal and operational questions only promise to become more complex in the future.

It is important that we begin having the conversations necessary to sort through these inevitable technological transitions, so we can leverage such innovations as smoothly and effectively as possible.