If you’ve been following the news, you might have heard that over the past couple of weeks, there has been a lot of unrest following a police shooting in the city of Ferguson, Missouri. There have also been contradicting statements from witnesses where one witness could claim one thing, and the other would claim the opposite.
Perhaps the New York Police Department is hoping to avoid potential conflicts like that in the future and according to Police Commissioner William Bratton (via The Wall Street Journal), he has announced that NYPD officers will begin testing two types of body cameras within the next few months.
Body cameras aren’t new as over in the UK, London’s metropolitan police have already begun wearing these cameras. According to Bratton, he is hoping that the body cameras will make the interactions citizens have with the police more transparent. Two types of cameras will be tested – one is the Vievu which can be worn on the front of the officer’s shirt, and the other is the Taser which is a camera that can be mounted on the collar, shoulder, ear, or glasses of the officer.
Policies are also being worked out regarding when these cameras should be turned on, how will the files be stored and for how long, and also who will be given access to them. Given that file storage could cost millions of dollars, Bratton has called this plan an “extraordinarily complex initiative”. The footage captured from the cameras are also expected to be used during trials, interdepartmental hearings, and could potentially be released to the public as well.
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