Dec. 17, 2014

The Los Angeles Police Department is buying 7,000 body-worn cameras for its officers, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Thursday. The decision is not directly related to the protests in Ferguson or New York City in the past several weeks, as the department has been testing the cameras for months. Nor does the purchase depend on President Obama's request for $75 million to help law enforcement pay for the equipment -- Los Angeles is relying on private donations.

All the same, those developments do mean that Los Angeles's program will be closely scrutinized by lawmakers, police chiefs and the press. Civil liberties advocates have concerns about the cameras. If the faces of the people they record are encoded in police databases, they argue, then the cameras will be an invasion of privacy. And they won't change the laws that are at the heart of recent decisions by grand juries not to indict police officers accused of killing unarmed black men.

Advocates for body cameras say they'll record nearly every encounter between police and citizens, helping to resolve disputes about what happens during altercations. But they are only a small part of what needs to be done to restore trust between officers and the people they protect.

For Los Angeles, body cameras follow years of hard work toward better policing. As NPR's Kirk Siegler reports, the beating of Rodney King in 1991 and the infamous Rampart scandal forced the department to deal with its racism and corruption. Court-ordered reforms helped the process along. Now, the department is supervised by an independent civilian commission. Its disciplinary protocols have been improved, and officers focus on community policing. The force, once largely white, is now 45 percent Hispanic and 13 percent black. All the while, as this chart from the Los Angeles Times shows, violent crime in the city has declined steadily, in line with the national trend.

That's not to say that Los Angeles police have solved all their problems. "I have a nice car, and I'm young and I'm black," one man told NPR in explaining why he is so frequently pulled over. That said, the department is evidence that police can improve relations with civilians without endangering public safety. And if law enforcement is fairer in general, then many of the objections to body cameras -- that cops will use the data improperly, for example -- may be less of a concern.

What's in Wonkbook: 1) FOMC preview 2) Opinions, including Kessler on waterboarding in World War II 3) 113th Congress ends 4) Jeb Bush looking at run 5) Oil prices mean budgetary havoc from Moscow to Juneau, and more

Number of the day: 2.5 million. That's the number of people who enrolled in new health insurance plans through the federally run exchange through Friday, according to the Obama administration. About half are returning customers. The number does not include any who enrolled over the weekend before Monday's deadline, or those who enrolled through the state-run exchanges. Jason Millman in The Washington Post.

Chart of the day:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's views, at least what we know of them so far, are more similar to those of his father and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) than to his brother's. Nate Silver in Five Thirty Eight.

1. The Fed will make a major statement today

The Fed is expected to drop the phrase "considerable time" from its statement. As the economy improves, the central bank wants to prepare investors for the possibility of a rate increase. Although falling prices worldwide are worrisome, the Fed probably believes they are due to cheaper oil, which should help the U.S. economy. The central bank might choose a word like "patient" to replace "considerable time." Craig Torres and Catarina Saraiva for Bloomberg.

"It gets replaced with something new and ambiguous. #ConsiderableTimeGuesses" -- @IvanTheK

The Fed also has to think about the U.S. labor market and financial stability and growth overseas. Data from November on the labor market was very encouraging, but indicators of the demand for workers remain contradictory. Meanwhile, the Fed might be worried about whether instability created by falling prices in the rest of the world will have consequences here. Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in The Wall Street Journal.

BIVENS: The Fed shouldn't raise rates until wages start rising. Wages have been increasing more slowly than productivity for years. If the Fed stymies wage growth now, labor's share of national income will only decline further. The Wall Street Journal. 

Another reason the Fed might be acting prematurely: low oil prices. Cheap oil prices might help the economy, but they do have a risk. Along with falling prices for other commodities and a dollar that remains strong amid global turmoil, oil could constrain inflation for several more years. "Too-low inflation means that the next time the economy falls into recession, interest rates will once again probably fall to zero, which may be too high in real terms to adequately restore growth." The Economist.

2. Top opinions

FLAVELLE: The numbers from Obamacare reenrollment make the case against markets. Many consumers passed up an opportunity to save money, reducing the pressure on insurers to compete on price and offer efficient plans. When irrational decisions prevent markets from working as they're supposed to in theory, the government can make everyone better off by stepping in, negotiating and paying to provide a service. Bloomberg.

GALSTON: Liberals must find a middle way between populism and the right. Nostalgia and outrage won't solve the country's problems. The Wall Street Journal.

KESSLER: The United States did indeed prosecute the Japanese for waterboarding. Contrary to former Vice President Dick Cheney's claim on "Meet the Press," Japanese officers in World War II and an American soldier in Vietnam faced prosecutions for waterboarding. The Washington Post.

Torture must be out of bounds. The Bush administration's practices were immoral. Basic humanity shouldn't be a matter of Congress setting even stricter limits on torture, but maybe that is necessary. The Washington Post.

3. "Thank God it's over!" 113th Congress concludes

Senators reached an agreement to call it quits late Tuesday. Before they did so, they confirmed a long list of nominees and extended a bevy of tax breaks for another year. "Thank God it's over!" said Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Ed O'Keefe and Sean Sullivan in The Washington Post.

Sarah Saldaña is the new head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The confirmation process was only the beginning for the U.S. attorney in Dallas. Now she takes charge of an agency with a budget that expires at the end of February, and any false move on her part will be exploited by Republicans critical of Obama's policies on immigration. Rachel Roubein in National Journal.

But lawmakers didn't squeeze in a vote on terrorism risk insurance. The future of the program, which reimburses insurers with federal funds for any excessive damages in the event of a terrorist attack, is now in question. But the NFL said that the Super Bowl will be played as scheduled next year, a welcome announcement for those who had worried that the league wouldn't be able to afford insurance for the game without a federal subsidy. Ramsey Cox and Kevin Cirilli in The Hill.

BENEN: The chamber confirmed a dozen judges last night. The total for the year is 88, more than twice the number approved last year. Senate Democrats changed the body's rules earlier this year in order to make confirming nominees easier for the majority. Now, Democratic-appointed judges are a majority on nine of the country's 13 federal appellate courts. MSNBC.

4. Jeb Bush will "explore" a presidential run

A Bush could be challenging a Clinton for the White House. "So entrenched are these two families in presidential politics that Americans under the age of 38 have experienced only one national election — 2012 — in which there has been no Bush or Clinton running for president or vice president." Karen Tumulty in The Washington Post.

WILKINSON: Experience and connections are the only way to manage the American political bureaucracy. "If Jeb Bush is worried that somebody in the CIA or State Department is dicking him around, there’s a good chance he knows a guy who knows a guy who is owed a big favor and can get him the straight scoop. And that’s power—the power by which the government renders the far-flung and opaque permanent state governable." The Dish.

DOUTHAT: Dynasties have their dangers. Yes, American politicians have always handed down power from one member of a family to another. But these days, elites are consolidating their economic and political power over society already, and the executive office is much more powerful than it ever was before. That makes the possibility of a Clinton-Bush contest troubling. The New York Times.

5. In case you missed it

Cheap oil is creating major budget shortfalls in several states. Alaska, where 88 percent of the state's budget is funded through oil production, confronts a $3.5 billion deficit. Louisiana, North Dakota and New Mexico have problems, too. Kyle Hopkins in the Los Angeles Times.

Moody's has issued a warning on Alaska's credit. The state's outlook has been revised downward to "negative." Tim Reid for Reuters.

Meanwhile, cheap oil threatens Russia's economy with collapse. Most countries in Russia's situation would have to ask the International Monetary Fund for a loan, but sanctions mean Moscow has nowhere to turn. Matt O'Brien in The Washington Post.

McARDLE: Russia's problems are everyone's problems. Growth in the United States is strong, but Russia's collapse would mean a truly global financial crisis that we couldn't escape. Bloomberg.

Colleges cut deals with Wall Street to hand out debit cards to students. The cards are mainly a way of disbursing student aid. The upshot is that banks take a cut of the aid through sometimes unusual fees, such as overdraft and maintenance charges. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel in The Washington Post.

There's more evidence that Mars may have once been habitable. The rover Curiosity has detected organic molecules that are believed to be a precondition for life and has confirmed that the crater it is rolling across is an ancient lakebed. Joseph Stromberg in

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