A policy scorecard compiled by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a nonprofit, and Upturn, a technology-focused consultancy, finds that the District doesn’t prohibit officers from viewing body-cam footage prior to issuing police reports, doesn’t have a cap on how long the Metropolitan Police Department can retain footage, and doesn’t stop officials from using biometric technologies like facial-recognition software to search through captured film. How law enforcement agencies use body cameras will make a significant impact on whether they weaken community trust rather than enhance it.
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Chief Ken Miller of Greenville Police Department says the video would be stored in the cloud with an unlimited amount of space, which runs over $1,000 a year for each of the 125 officers wearing the cameras.
“Video takes a lot of space and if you’re recording a few hours of video in any given night that they work, and given that employee works a couple hundred days a year, it’s a lot of video”.
“If I’m not mistaken, We’ve had 3 or 4 or 5 shootings dealing with officers and people in the community and there’s been no accountability for cameras being on, no cameras being on… you might have fellow officers cameras on, and there’s been no results”. He also acknowledges the devices don’t always tell the whole story but he says without body camera footage we will only have the police narrative to rely on.
The public call for greater accountability is not one police departments around the country have been quick to ignore.
Limits the use of biometric technologies. Atlanta, Ga., and Ferguson, Mo., were both cited as having the least “thought out” body-worn camera policies.
Though city departments in Philadelphia, Detroit, San Antonio and Albuquerque have deployed body cameras, they all failed to release any policy.
· Even when camera policies are in place, eight of the 12 largest departments we reviewed do not make their policies publicly and readily available on the departments’ websites.
“We developed the scorecard project because this technology is rapidly rolling out nationwide, and we believe that these factors are critical to determine whether the new equipment will actually help protect the civil rights of recorded individuals”, said Harlan Yu, principal at Upturn. But even those cities meet just four of the eight standards put forward by the group.
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The use of body cameras was partly in response to the public being able to film police with smart phones.
