Figure lie and liars figure.  Hot Air has a post about the effect of Police Body Cameras, conflicting information.  It notes that consistent numbers are hard to come by.  In one study assaults are up and in another they are down. Part of the problem is the people designing the study may know statistics and modeling but they don’t know cops and police work.  Here are some other famous but erroneous conclusions from  the past.

Kansas City police patrol activity does not suppress crime.  Police observed three patrol districts of similar demographics. One district they left alone, in a second they pulled out all patrols and only answered calls for service and in the third the doubled the patrols. Crime decreased in the district with no patrols and increased in the district with increased police presence.

The conclusion, patrol did not suppress crime.  The reality is much of police activity is initiated by the individual officers, not the public. Increased officers in the patrol  district meant that officers had more free time, they weren’t running from call to call.  This gave them the ability to react to suspicious circumstances, investigate and when appropriate make an “on sight arrest”.

There is also the continuing debate of one man versus two man cars and which is safer. From a statistical standpoint a one man car is safer. But this can be simple math.  When a two man car shows up at a call, if one officer is assaulted, chances are the second officer will be also. On those calls that may or may not require additional officers a two man car may not opt to call for backup, increasing the odds of an assault.  A one man car facing a similar call is liable to end up with two or more backup units, tilting the numbers in the cop’s favor and decreasing the probability of assault.

Finally, there is the culture the cops operate under.  This can vary from shift to shift, generation to generation, substation to substation and department to department.  Behavior that constitutes assault may be ignored, classified as something else (disorderly conduct, public intoxication, or resisting arrest) or charged at a lower level.

I haven’t had any experience with cameras.  I suspect that as they become more prevalent cameras will loose some of the attraction of the left. This because they will discover what cops know, turds lie.