As of yesterday, some police officers in Cleveland were outfitted with body cameras. This comes about a month after the department purchased some 1,500 cameras, and nearly three months after 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot and killed by cops after his toy gun was mistaken for a real one.
According to the Cleveland.com, the Cleveland Police Department purchased spent $2.4 million on the program, purchasing 1,500 cameras last month. Of that number, 375 are flex cameras, and the remaining 1,125 are body cameras:
The flex cameras, which retail on the Taser website for $599 a-piece, can be mounted to an officer's eyewear, hat, collar, body or the dash of a cruiser. The body cameras can be worn on an officer's button or zipper shirt, utility belt or uniform shirt pockets, the site states.
According to the newly drafted policy, officers will be required to record during pedestrian or vehicle investigative stops, pursuits and emergency driving situations, crime or accident scenes, physical violence, civil disturbances, criminal suspicious activity or police use-of-force incidents.
Encounters with victims, witnesses or suspects also will be recorded. Officers are required to alert citizens that the interaction is being recorded. A victim or witness can ask the officer to turn off the camera. A supervisor must approve the decision to deactivate, and when practical, officers are advised to record the victim or witness stating that they do not wish to be recorded.
Other situations that should not be recorded include entering a private residence that is not a crime scene, entering dressing rooms or restrooms or having conversations that are unrelated to police investigations, according to the policy.
The Associated Press reports that Sgt. Ali Pillow, Spokesman for the Cleveland Police Department, said the response to test usage of the camera was extremely positive. "At the end of the 30-day trial period, they didn't want to give them back," he explained.
Police in Cleveland plan to use all of the cameras by June.
[via Associated Press and Cleveland.com]
