To explicitly summarize your comment: technology is going to be abused by the powerful regardless of what they claim unless we enact strict systemic controls on their use with intense oversight.
Such enforcement is entirely possible, it just takes the political will to do so.
This latest incident is just another piece of evidence for America being a police/surveillance state. I'm not sure how people can deny it anymore.
I just sat on a jury in Colorado where we found a police detective guilty of abuse of power and other charges. Almost every witness with another police officer.
So no, cops do not always ignore other cops breaking the law.
I recently saw a report that showed that when cops report other cops, the chances of a conviction or other serious consequences are well over 50%, whereas civilian complaints against cops tend to be more like 1%. Because a lot of times civilian complaints aren't about actual abuse of power, but "I don't like the tone of voice he took with me" or whatever.
Good cops generally want to get the bad cops off of the force.
This too is changing. Especially in Baltimore, the political apparatus has realized that without intervention and harsh oversight, the population will riot and destroy the city. Thus, the officers involved in the Freddie Gray incident were indicted, and may go to jail.
I wish it hadn't taken a riot in Baltimore, but it's probable that there will be more riots before we get the kind of oversight that is needed.
In LA, when the Simi Valley jury acquitted the cops who were videotaped beating Rodney King, that would have been the end of the matter if the riots hadn't occurred.
Such enforcement is entirely possible, it just takes the political will to do so.
This latest incident is just another piece of evidence for America being a police/surveillance state. I'm not sure how people can deny it anymore.