. >> reporter: but jim beerman, a former police chief, says there may not have been time for that. >>ided to start shooting at the officers, all the officers there were at risk. that bullet will go through the car door and the windshield. there were people on the street. it looked like a residential area. >> reporter: the mistake the officer made beerman says was seemingly not telling his fellow officers he was about to do this. they appeared surprised. it's rekindled a passionate debate about the use of police cameras. some argue they make police more jittery, less apt to go with their instincts, concerned with too much scrutiny. but beerman says cameras have become critical exposing police who commit abuse or clarify uncertainties. >> there are as many officers that have been exonerated by their dashcam videos showing they did exactly what they were supposed to do and there was no misbehavior on their part as it has helped in evidentiary case, too. >> beerman says dashcams are also powerful teaching tools for officers to review what they did right and wrong in a given incident. and