Police watchdogs chat body cams for officers
Devices could protect the public and cops, advocate says
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- Police uniforms that include a tiny clip-on camera make the public and the police more comfortable and safe, according to Tracey Mosley of the Greater Atlanta Urban League, testifying at a Atlanta Citizen Review Board meeting.
If there’s anybody in Atlanta who knows how hard it is to sort out allegations of misconduct by police, it’s the Atlanta Citizen Review Board. What would happen, they ask, if Atlanta Police Department officers wore little tiny video cameras clipped to their shoulders?
Body cameras would “bring more safety, bring more comfort to the community at large,” said Tracey Mosley of the Greater Atlanta Urban League on Thursday evening at an ACRB open mic for comments on body cameras.
He said body cameras have been effective at protecting officers and preventing crime in such cities as Los Angeles, Anaheim, and St. Louis.
“Hopefully we can put the spotlight on Atlanta for stepping up to curb police brutality,” said Leonard Jones, president of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Action Network, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s organization.
“Here in Atlanta I think body cameras fill several purposes, not just to protect the public but to protect police as well,” said Jones - especially in light of passage of House Bill 60 earlier this year, which expands the list of places where guns can be carried.
There are pros and cons to body cameras, said ACRB Executive Director Samuel Reid, so that’s why board members want to know what the public thinks.
Supporters argue cameras “would reduce complaints against the police … would reduce the city’s liability,” Reid said.
He added, however, that “some of the critics have mentioned the cameras first will invade citizens’ and officers’ privacy rights.”
Many ACRB investigations run into the brick wall of insufficient evidence: a complainant says one thing, an officer says another, and there are no other witnesses. If the ACRB sustains a complaint against a wayward officer, it makes recommendations to the APD on a punishment, like a reprimand or a suspension. Similarly, if the seven-member board decides to adopt some position on body cameras, its formal role is only to write a recommendation to the APD.
Deploying the cameras would require the APD and Atlanta City Council to agree that it’s a good idea, as well as to put a new line item in the city budget. The APD was already testing a few models when councilmembers last week approved a feasibility study on potentially investing in the devices.