Dateline Hawthorne – Mayor Chris Brown will make his third trip to the White House late next week, and for the second time he will be pleading with President Obama to support, if not supply, body cameras for every police department in the nation – to avoid future Fergusons, Staten Islands, Baltimores and South Carolinas.
Hawthorne officers were outfitted – without charge – by the Los Angeles-based manufacturer, Wolfcom Vision, which introduced the first body-worn cameras.
Mr. Brown’s 92-member Hawthorne Police Dept. has begun month-long training with body cams before the cams become mandatory for all officers.
The mayor was credited with obtaining the donation.
“Mayor Chris Brown’s advocacy for police body cameras makes the Hawthorne the perfect department for this donation from Wolfcom,” WOLFCOM,” said founder Peter Austin Onruang, according to the Los Angeles Sentinel.
Mr. Brown, who is running for re-election, is an ardent advocate for body cams for police officers in every state.
“This would limit the liability in lawsuits,” he said this morning, “and save cities millions of dollars.
“So many lawsuits are being filed against police officers just on hearsay. With cameras, they will provide a third eye that brings clarity to a lot of situations.”
Mr. Brown said that cameras will come to be seen as a reliable witness, “especially if all officers at the scene are wearing cameras.
“Just one camera may not mean much. A suspect or an officer may do something that will mess things up. But when you have four different cameras, that changes things. It should be pretty clear what happened.”
