The inspector general for the New York Police Department admits that some policy changes are needed before they can expand the pilot program on police officers wearing body cameras.
There are currently 54 police officers in New York City who are equipped with body cameras while they are on patrol around the city. If plans for expansion push through, the number of officers wearing the court-appointed federal device will increase to roughly 1,000.
At present, police officers are instructed to turn on the body camera if, based on a reasonable suspicion, they believe that a crime is happening; they are investigating a driver on a traffic stop; and they are in a situation where some force is being used.
However, a report that was released by NYPD Inspector General Philip Eure and City Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters states that the current practice poses limits that are "too restrictive to fully capture the wide range of police-community encounters."
The report recommends that the "NYPD should broaden and illustrate the standard for the mandatory activation of BWCs during street or investigative encounters." This means the policy should include a number of examples that would show the broad nature of encounters that are being covered. These examples would then become a very useful tool for officers who need to recall and enforce the policy when they are on patrol.
The suggestion was made following an incident in Cincinnati where a police officer was indicted on murder charges for shooting a black motorist, the footage of which was captured in the officer's body camera.
While it is true that body cameras can help provide footage of an incident, which may be used as evidence of a crime, some experts say that it is still unclear how the cameras, once they become widely used, would affect officers and various police departments across the U.S.
"Some cops are going to welcome it, and [there are] some cops who are not going to [care] and there [are] other cops who are going to make a decision, 'I'm not going to take any chances for losing my job ... or go to jail for a single action,'" says Michael Broder, a therapist who used to work with the Philadelphia police department. "The independent variable: there is the rise in crime statistics or whether that it rises at all."
Another recommendation that was stated in the report is the creation of a unified "model notification phrase," which will be used as an alert to inform people that the incident is being recorded. This would require an officer to state the phrase "I am advising you that our interaction is being recorded" as a standard procedure in all types of encounters.
"Before any decision is made about their implementation in this city, the issue needs to be extensively studied," cautioned Patrick Lynch, head of Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. "Cameras should not become another vehicle to make the job of policing any more difficult."
