Is anyone surprised that 80% of Chicago PD dash cams don’t work properly:

On the night Laquan McDonald was shot 16 times by a Chicago Police officer, at least three dashboard video cameras in squad cars at the scene didn’t work. And the ones that did capture video did not record audio.

The massive failure was no statistical quirk.

In fact, 80 percent of the Chicago Police Department’s 850 dashcam video systems don’t record audio due to “to operator error or in some cases intentional destruction” by officers, according to a review by the Police Department.

Additionally, about 12 percent of dashcams experience “video issues” on any given day due to “equipment or operator error,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

The Laquan shooting, which led to murder charges, has now been seen by the world — but not heard. And not every potential camera angle exists.

A sergeant on the scene reported he was unable to collect video footage from three squad cars at the scene due to system malfunctions including “disc error,” “power issue” and an “application error,” police reports show.

I gotta assume that, “operator error or in some cases intentional destruction.”

It fits with the whole “Thin Blue Line” siege mentality that permeates police forces throughout the United States.

I’m beginning to think that all these cams should be run exclusively by civilian review boards.