Imagine what they could do now

found on Izismile

Cameras have gotten a lot smaller since those days. They could be a lot more inconspicuous. Also, they can transmit wirelessly now so you could use any animal rather than one that you have to meet up with at a known location after the fact like a homing pigeon.

Bring Your Own Body-Cam

from here

Officer-worn video cameras aren't ideal for establishing officer accountability. They're better at capturing details to justify police action (and thereby cover the officer's arse) than at capturing the officer doing things they shouldn't be doing. Surveillance, after all, is a tool of the state and tools of the state can't be easily turned against the state.

Citizen-worn video cameras (aka souveillance) on the other hand are much better at capturing improper police action because they can be pointed at cops and because the police can't disable them or obstruct their view (so long as the police action isn't against the wearer, so some redundancy may be called for) .

It's not like it would have been private without the camera

found on Funny Junk

I actually tend to think that the people who manage surveillance feeds are exactly the kinds of people who wouldn't ask the deputy to turn the camera off before whipping it out. That kind of job attracts people who get off on seeing things they aren't supposed to see, even if they don't happen to swing that way.