Image: Reuters
"One of the things the president is rightfully focused on is body cameras, and later this week we'll be rolling out a pilot program related to body cameras here in this city," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters today.
Mr. de Blasio was referencing a meeting in Washington, D.C. earlier this week with President Obama and various law-enforcement officials, lawmakers, and clergy to discuss policing in the wake of the mess in Ferguson, Missouri.
"But one thing we can say for sure, body cameras are one of the ways to create a real sense of transparency and accountability," he added. "They're one of the ways that we can bring police and community closer together."
The White House is asking lawmakers for about $75 million for about 50,000 wearable body cameras for police officers. The program is part of a federal response to outrage over police brutality and lack of accountability in Ferguson, where a white officer shot an unarmed black teen, and was not charged with a crime.
A New York Police Department officer is seen as Mayor Bill de Blasio attends a news conference in the Brownsville neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, January 30, 2014. Photo: Reuters.
From the Wall Street Journal:
In New York, officers are already testing two types of officer body cameras in an effort make interactions between police and citizens more transparent.
Some 5,000 police departments nationwide now use body cameras and the NYPD will be the largest police force in the nation to use the technology. It has been championed by elected officials, community leaders and some judges as a potential remedy to tense and sometimes fatal interactions between law-enforcement officials and the people they encounter.
New York City's pilot program will adopt two cameras that are widely used by large and small police forces across the country. The Vievu, about the size of a pager, can be worn on the front of an officer's shirt. The Taser can be mounted on an officer's ear, glasses, collar or shoulder.
The officers wearing the cameras mostly work East Harlem in Manhattan, Mott Haven in the Bronx, East New York in Brooklyn, Jamaica in Queens and the north shore of Staten Island.
And in Chicago this week:
The head of the Chicago Police Department, the second biggest in the United States, said on Monday its officers will start wearing body cameras and it will make other changes after a fatal police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, in August set off a national debate on race and policing.
More: Capital New York, NY Post.
