Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 23 July 2019

NY state police lag behind agencies nationwide on camera use

By RYAN TARINELLI Donald, a black teenager
Associated Press who was shot by a white
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A high- Chicago police officer. The
way shoulder is where New footage showed the teen
York state troopers spotted veering away from authori-
Luke Patterson, walking by ties, images that contra-
himself around 2 a.m. after dicted officers’ claims that
his car became disabled. he lunged at them with
By the end of the encoun- a knife. The officer, Jason
ter in rural New York, the Van Dyke, was ultimately
41-year-old chef would be convicted of second-de-
killed by a trooper’s gunfire. gree murder.
Authorities say the trooper — Body camera foot-
shot him when he made a age played a key role in
sudden movement toward the conviction of a former
the cruiser after behaving Dallas-area officer who
strangely. The man’s family shot and killed a black,
said he had been having unarmed 15-year-old boy.
psychiatric problems but The jury was unconvinced
posed no threat to anyone. by the officer’s argument
Unlike many other po- that he feared for his part-
lice shootings across the ner’s life when he opened
U.S., no video of the May fire into a car driving away
23 confrontation exists to from a large house party in
help determine what hap- 2017.
pened. New York State Police, an
That’s because New York This May 8, 2017 file photo provided by his family shows Luke Patterson. Patterson was shot and agency that had about
remains one of only five killed by a New York State Trooper on May 23, 2019, while walking alone along the shoulder of a 4,975 sworn members late
states where the primary highway. last month, says it has no
state law enforcement Associated Press plans to implement dash-
agency is not equipped Luke Patterson’s father, cameras is common, the praise the use of police board or body cameras
with dashboard cameras, Mark Patterson. AP survey found most pri- cameras, arguing that the but continues to “evaluate
according to a nationwide The New York agency lacks mary state law enforce- technology can increase new technologies.”
Associated Press survey. body cameras too. It says ment agencies do not transparency and is well The technology gap
Four of those states — it once employed VHS and have body cameras. worth the cost. They also shocked the parents of
Rhode Island, New Hamp- later digital cameras on a More than a dozen re- say the cameras can be a Luke Patterson, the res-
shire, New York and Massa- limited number of vehicles, ported implementing body benefit to both officers and taurateur who was killed
chusetts — are in the North- but it didn’t have the funds cameras in some form or citizens. on Interstate 84 in Orange
east. to maintain the VHS equip- taking part in a pilot pro- That point has been high- County, a couple of hours
Hawaii’s primary state law ment and the digital cam- gram. Those include agen- lighted in several cases in north of New York City.
enforcement agency also eras required “costly main- cies for the two largest recent years: “Where were the body
does not have dashboard tenance.” states by population, Cali- — Body camera footage cams?” said his mother,
cameras, but it doesn’t “It’s astonishing that the fornia and Texas. cleared a Texas trooper af- Elena Patterson.
have a state-level highway New York State Police have New York City’s police de- ter he was falsely accused Authorities found Luke Pat-
patrol, so it has far fewer in- no video accountability,” partment, the nation’s big- of sexual assault by a wom- terson walking on a high-
teractions with citizens. said Christopher Dunn, le- gest, finished its rollout of an he arrested. way shoulder after they
“We don’t know what hap- gal director of the New about 20,000 body cam- — Dashboard camera foot- responded to a report of a
pened, other than what York Civil Liberties Union. eras this year. age sparked protests over vehicle abandoned in the
they say happened,” said While use of dashboard Law enforcement experts the killing of Laquan Mc- road.q

Leader of American Airlines pilots wants candor from Boeing

By DAVID KOENIG June, a few months after a some analysts think 2020 is
AP Airlines Writer heated meeting between more likely.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) Boeing officials and some Boeing and some of the air-
— The new president of American Airlines pilots. lines that use the Max are in
the American Airlines pi- The pilots were angry that the early stages of design-
lots’ union says his group the manufacturer had not ing a public relations cam-
will help assure the public told them about new flight- paign to make passengers
that the Boeing 737 Max is control software that could feel safe boarding a plane
safe when it is cleared to fly push the plane’s nose that has crashed twice.
again. down. “When we see Allied Pilots
But Eric Ferguson also says The software activated Association pilots operating
Boeing needs to fully ex- based on faulty sensor the airplane, the flying pub-
plain how the Max differs data on flights that crashed lic can be assured that it is
from previous versions of The logo for Boeing appears above a trading post on the floor of off Indonesia and in Ethio- safe to operate, we will not
the 737 — something Boe- the New York Stock Exchange, Monday, July 22, 2019. pia, killing 346 people. compromise in that area,”
ing failed to do when it Associated Press Boeing is reworking the soft- Ferguson said. He added
rolled out the new model. expecting full disclosure of reporters Monday. ware and hopes to get the that the pilots “will partici-
“We can’t know what we every modification to the Ferguson took over the Al- plane flying again in the pate as necessary to assure
do not know, so we are air frame,” Ferguson told lied Pilots Association in fourth quarter, although the public that it is safe.”q