LAPD cops caught planting drugs by their own bodycams

Remember how Baltimore, MD cops got caught planting drugs last July because they didn’t know their body cameras secretly kept the previous 30 seconds of footage once they’re activated, a feature specifically intended to prevent tampering? And then how it happened again to the same PD in August?

If you’re wondering whether I bring this up because the exact same thing happened again, you’re mistaken – in that this time it’s Los Angeles officers who busted themselves.

Screencap of bodycam footage showing cop planting drugs in suspect’s wallet

The Los Angeles Police Department has opened an investigation into allegations that an officer planted drugs on a suspect after a CBS2 News report showed body-cam footage of the incident contradicts the officer’s claims.

The segment from CBS2 Investigative Reporter David Goldstein aired earlier this week. Footage from 12 body cam videos obtained by Goldstein show what appears to be LAPD Officer Samuel Lee picking up small bag that later tested positive for cocaine, and placing it Ronald Shields’ wallet. Shields, 52, had been stopped for a hit-and-run in April of this year and was subsequently charged on that felony and possession of cocaine.

[…]

Lee is seen searching the suspect. He testified in court, as in the police report, that the cocaine was found in Shields’ left front pocket.

But the videos shows a different story.

In video from another angle, officer Gaxiola picks up Shields’ wallet from the street and shows it to Lee, who points to the suspect as if to say it’s his.

He then puts it back down, steps to the street, bends over and picks up a small bag with white powder. It eventually tested positive for drugs.

Gaxiola goes back onto the sidewalk, picks up the wallet, motions to Lee and appears to put the bag into the wallet.

Body cams are too often held up as a panacea that will solve the issue of police misconduct altogether and provide perfect clarity in all incidents, which isn’t remotely true. But they can encourage cops to conduct themselves more by the book, and even when they don’t, as we’ve seen, they’re excellent for revealing how pervasively often cops lie, especially when those crooked cops haven’t yet figured out how to work around their cameras’ hidden features.

(via @greg_doucette; RT: @Popehat)