Police begin wider body camera use after months of testing
Source: Associated Press
May 3, 3:02 PM EDT
Police begin wider body camera use after months of testing
By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) -- After months of testing, many of the nation's big-city police forces are planning to expand their use of body cameras by the summer, but the number of officers with such gear will still be relatively small, an Associated Press review found.
The 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and other deaths at the hands of police around the U.S. have led to demands that officers be issued wearable cameras to deter misconduct and document shootings and other clashes. But because of cost concerns, union resistance and other factors, the rollout has been slower than some cities envisioned.
An AP look at the nation's 20 largest local departments found that Chicago has begun issuing the devices to over 2,000 officers, or less than 17 percent of its roughly 12,000-member force, though it says it will eventually offer them across the department. Philadelphia has begun equipping about 5 percent of its force and Houston nearly 6 percent.
New York, the nation's largest city police force, says it plans to purchase 1,000 cameras by the summer, or enough to outfit less than 3 percent of its 34,000-plus officers. But the department said Tuesday there is no date for when those will be put to use, and no plan as yet to equip more officers.
Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_BODY_CAMERAS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-03-15-02-49
snot
(10,538 posts)(Ok, that was broad brush, but.)
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)give the rest a bad name
valerief
(53,235 posts)Whoops!
MADem
(135,425 posts)They need to do this NOW.
Also, the f-ing STATE POLICE need to get off their raddled asses and get them as well--AND get dashcams!
It's past due, IMO.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Todays_Illusion
(1,209 posts)from within their own departments. Departments that demand the constant harassment of the poor as their mission and go along with the practices. They can stop going along.
I am no where near believing all or even most of our police officers and other law enforcement people are as bad as some would have us believe.
The ones who want law enforcement privatized for example.
This operation by CATO Institute for example: http://www.policemisconduct.net/
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)not chest-mounted cameras. The chest cameras will be blocked by the hands and arms when the guns are used.
Demonaut
(8,926 posts)the sorry state of journalism today...