An officer with his stellar record would normally prevail against drunk driving car dash camera. But in this example, Bell had something on his side: a video car dash camera mounted on the dashboard of Parker's squad car that told a radically different story.

Far from revealing a staggering drunk, reported the Chicago Sun-Times, the video "showed Bell appearing to be perfectly balanced," passing the sobriety tests that Parker administeredand being refused when he asked to take a Breathalyzer. Prosecutors watched the recording and promptly dismissed the case. They are now considering charges against Parker.

That episode enhances the question: Nine years in to the 21st century, why isn't every squad car in America equipped with a dashboard camcorder? Why do we persist in counting on the slippery, self-interested, incomplete, and unverified accounts of opposing participants whenever we have the means to see the truth with our own eyes?

In cases like this, the innocent man was lucky to be stopped by a cop driving a video-armed vehicle. The possibilities against it, since only 11 percent of the CPD's cars have car dash cameras for recording traffic stops. Although the Why Almost Everyone in Russia Has a Dash Cam is likely to use federal stimulus money to double time and the mayor has said he wants car dash cameras set up in the remaining vehicles "as quickly as possible," no one is radiating a sense of haste.

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