Second in a series.
Re: “Don’t Wink for This Birdie – Body Cams”
Before body cameras can become a reality for the Police Dept., deep research is under way.
“We are actively engaged in studying the idea,” says Capt. Allen Azran. “We are researching equipment, looking at policy, waiting on some case law that will be coming down in the near future, giving police agencies direction on how to implement the use of body cams.
“Right now, there are a lot of unknowns.”
Privacy, for one.
“We know that in general the public is in favor of body cams,” Mr. Azran said.
“But there are concerns, for example, about when we go into people’s homes – what is going to be captured, what is going to be public record vs. what is going to kept private.”
The in-car cameras that the Police Dept. presently is installing, spark a different set of issues.
“Although the officers have audio recorders that are connected to the system that will pick up various conversations,” Mr. Azran says, “the video cameras obviously don’t follow the officers into homes or private businesses. So they are limited.”
However, the captain said, “once the body cameras are implemented, the cameras will see everything the officer sees. In theory.”
Even if body cams appear to be a panacea in response to an outcry against police departments the past 10 months, “all of this technology has limitations,” Mr. Azran said. “That is the way we look at it.
“Rather than saying they may or may not distort, it is more a conversation about the reality they will be providing. We view it as just another tool that is going to provide an additional perspective.”
(To be continued)
