The first police-worn body cameras were introduced in the U.K. more than 20 years ago and were considered experimental at the time. In 2012, the Rialto Police Department in California conducted a study that showed an 88 percent reduction in complaints against officers when they wore body cameras, and in 2014, the Obama administration announced a $75 million initiative to fund 50,000 police cameras.
The Left pushed for these cameras because they argued that it would prove that police officers are not only inherently violent, but racist, too. In the last decade, however, police body cameras have often given the average American an eye-opening look into what our police officers face on a daily basis, including the times when they have to make split-second decisions in dangerous situations.
This includes the officer-involved shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who was attempting to stab another girl when she was shot and killed by officers, and 27-year-old Ricardo Munoz, who was shot as he charged a Philly police officer with a knife. Despite the overwhelming evidence that the police were justified in these shootings, BLM and Leftist agitators still pretended the attacks were racially motivated and protested. Fortunately, neither of the officers involved in either shooting was charged.
But it was then that I realized the Left — who pushed for body cameras — were starting to realize they'd made a mistake. I wondered when the blowback against body cameras would come, and it's now.
Leftist author says “well-meaning liberals” have been fooled into supporting bodycams, which should stop being used.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) January 27, 2026
“They have been an essential propaganda tool."
Yet leftists want every one of their militant wingnuts filming law enforcement.
Interesting how that works. pic.twitter.com/650QTEuh0l
That's "Copaganda" author Alex Karakatsanis, who now wants to abolish police body cameras.
"In the wake of Michael Brown, we'll market it [body cameras] to low-information people in the public to well-meaning liberal people. We'll market it as 'accountability and transparency,'" Karakatsanis said, complete with air quotes.
"And so they totally shifted, and then they were able to get hundreds of millions of dollars toward their goal of outfitting every single cop with a mobile surveillance camera that the police control. They control when it's on, when it's off, what it captures, when something is captured," Karakatsanis added.
"So if the police capture, let's say, an undocumented immigrant committing some crime, that's out on Fox News and The New York Post within hours, but if they capture the police doing something horrific, the public may never see that video," said Karakatsanis.
"Body cameras are a mirage. And as I write in the 'Copaganda' book...not only do they not reduce police violence, they have been an essential propaganda tool in convincing so many well-meaning people across our society that the authorities care about police violence...and it distracts people from the core, important kind of changes that we need."
Reality is the enemy of the Left. Body cameras capture the reality of situations as they unfold and — much to the dismay of guys like Karakatsanis — destroy the narrative that all police suck. Yes, there are bad cops out there who should be removed from the force and face consequences for their actions.
But that's not what the Left wants. Imagine the world we'd live in if Musk hadn't taken over X. We'd likely have never seen video footage of what led to the Renee Good or Alex Pretti shootings. We would've been told by the media what to believe, that ICE and Border Patrol were undoubtedly the bad guys, and questioning the narrative wouldn't have been allowed. The ubiquity of technology means we're all able to se things unfold in real time, for better or worse.
And if the Left didn't think camera footage was reliable or helpful, why did Tim Walz and other Democrats tell their foot soldiers to record ICE agents so that footage can be used against them at a later date? It's because they know video is a powerful tool, but they want to be the only ones who wield it (and abuse it).
The backlash against body cams was inevitable. It's not about privacy or fairness or dismantling bureaucracy, it's about control. Body cams were welcomed when activists believed they would confirm a pre-determined narrative, only to be rejected when they revealed uncomfortable truths: chaos, danger, split-second decisions. Instead of acknowledging that reality, activists have decided to label the footage as "propaganda." The Left isn't opposed to surveillance, it opposes losing its monopoly on the narrative.