Chattanooga Times Free Press

Nashville council seeks to buy officer body cams

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NASHVILLE — Nashville’s Metro Council is calling for the “immediate purchase” of police body cameras after the fatal shooting of an armed black man by a white officer last month.

On Tuesday, the council voted 30-5 to approve a resolution requesting Mayor Megan Barry expedite the police department’s deployment of 168 cameras by June 30. That would initially cover about 11 percent of the department’s force.

The vote comes as authoritie­s investigat­e the death of 31-year-old Jocques Clemmons, who was shot in the back and killed following a traffic stop Feb. 10.

According to supporters, the initial deployment of the cameras will keep officers and residents safe.

“A young man in our community is dead and these cameras could have absolutely led to a different result,” said Councilwom­an Karen Johnson, one of the resolution’s sponsors.

However, some opponents argued it would be unfair to equip only some of the officers with cameras instead of all of them at once.

“This doesn’t do enough,” James Smallwood, president of the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police, said. “Our argument is not against body cameras; it’s about fairness.”

In a statement, Barry, who has already committed to providing funding in her budget for body cameras as part of Metro’s budget, said that she will make a formal proposal on funding the plan by the end of April.

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