As part of our drive to keep our comment section the best in New Zealand we showcase each week an example of a top-notch comment that adds value to The BFD.
Today’s comment was written by MarcWills . Thank you MarcWills for taking the time to craft such an interesting comment.
Airline pilots have their cockpit voice recorders operating continuously. To preserve their privacy, the Airline Pilots Union worked to enable laws that provided that the recordings could only be listened to under strictly defined conditions – safety, determining causes of accidents etc. This was an important principle to be established, otherwise, the recorders would not have been allowed, and we would have lost an important tool used in determining many accident causes and subsequent safety improvements.
If other occupational groups are going to be required to have recording devices (police, corrections, supermarkets) there should be strict rules established on when the data can be used first. Any unauthorised use must be made legally inadmissible.
I have talked to a Corrections Officer about this, and he thinks these devices will be useful in many ways, but the do-gooders and ambulance chasing lawyers will take any opportunity to pick out the times when someone has sworn inappropriately or otherwise in a heated situation, and this will be used against them. Some prisoners are scum, and they do spend all day trying to get some revenge back on the prison staff, just because that’s what they are.
So in short, body recorders are really helpful in many situations, but strict rules need to be established for the data to be accessed.
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