We all behave better on camera

Our laws are not keeping up with technology. Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City demonstrate this. If in each instance body cameras had been worn by law enforcement, much discord and unrest could have been avoided.

In 2012, the case of ACLU v. Alvarez challenged our eavesdropping statute as unconstitutional due to its felony provision for videotaping of police officers. Now, two and a half years later and after our state Supreme Court mercifully overturned our long-standing eavesdropping statute, the public is finally allowed to videotape law enforcement officers in the normal course of their duty.

But let's be clear. Under our new law, neither law enforcement nor the public is deemed to have any reasonable expectation of privacy in public areas when police conduct normal duties. To all in Illinois, it must be said: the whole world is watching.

As chairman of the Illinois Senate Criminal Law Committee, I have had to consider hundreds of proposed laws as to their constitutional implications and practical applications. As a criminal defense attorney, I have come to the realization that, while testimony can be persuasive, video, though not absolute in its reliability, is compelling. Moreover, we all behave better under the watchful eye of the camera.

With the greater use of body cameras by law enforcement in Illinois, the tensions experienced in places like Ferguson, Missouri and New York City will occur much less often in our state. The time is long overdue for us to reasonably rely on technology to usher in a new age of transparency. And in so doing, rather than unrest, we will know the relief experienced by lowering the high price we all pay for justice.

Michael Noland

Elgin

State Senator

22nd District