On reality shows like "COPS," cameras on state trooper vehicles capture every twist and turn of the officers' hot pursuit of speeders and drunk drivers. But Baltimore viewers are apt to be disappointed if they expect similarly exciting TV from cameras mounted on the city's fleet of prowl cars. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but only if the camera is pointed in the right direction.

That's why a bill introduced by Baltimore City Councilwoman Belinda K. Conaway that would require installing cameras in police cars to monitor officers' conduct toward citizens may not be the wisest use of city funds. Ms. Conaway's proposal came in response to citizen complaints over a recent incident in which a 73-year-old community activist, James E. "Lenny" Clay, had his arm was broken in two places during an arrest. Given differing accounts of how Mr. Clay's suffered his injuries, Ms. Conaway suggested that camera footage from the officers' cars might have helped settle the dispute.

Whenever questions of police misconduct arise, citizens are right to demand full accountability and transparency, especially in cases where the department's encounters with the public result in injuries. Ms. Conaway's call for a "uniform, consistent, fair and transparent policy in dissemination of information surrounding police/civilian encounters that result in injury to either party" is on target. But there may be better ways to achieve that than installing dashboard cameras.

Dashboard cameras have been used by the Maryland State Police for more than a decade, and officials with that agency say they have been a positive tool in increasing accountability and in clearing up disputes about interactions between officers and citizens. The cameras make good sense for the state police, whose main contact with the public comes in the form of traffic stops, which almost always occur directly in front of the squad car.

But that's much less likely to be the case for city police trying to clear up drug corners or chase suspects through streets and back alleys.

Furthermore, if Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is successful in moving police out of their vehicles and onto foot patrol, dashboard cameras would do even less good. A department spokesman said Mr. Bealefeld would rather invest in technologies that give his officers greater freedom to walk around and engage the community, such as Blackberrys that let officers look up records, transmit crime scene photos and perform other chores away from their squad cars, and more outdoor closed-circuit cameras like the ones that already provide surveillance in many parts of the city.

There's no certainty, of course, that any of these other tools could have settled the dispute over Mr. Clay's arrest either. All technologies have their limitations. No matter how ingenious, every new gizmo, including the dash-mounted police camera, is only as trustworthy as the people using it. That's why we'd rather see the city invest in making the department as a whole more transparent and accountable through better training and more stringent oversight of officers on the beat than buy into a purely technical "solution" that still may not provide the definitive answers people are seeking.

Readers respond

I am for cameras in all police cars if it helps the police do their jobs and protects the rights of citizens. But are they needed? I think we should ask the police officers that question and act accordingly.

Sean Tully