Cops hit street wearing cams
THE BODY cam era has begun.
The NYPD rolled out its first camera-equipped cops as part of a pilot program launched in response to a court order outlawing the city’s controversial stop-and-frisk program, officials said Thursday.
Officers in Manhattan’s 34th Precinct hit the streets of Washington Heights wearing the pager-sized digital recording devices clipped to ties in the middle of their chests.
The cameras will initially be worn by each of nearly 50 officers on patrol on the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift, officials said. The rollout will continue to additional precincts through the end of the year, with a total of 5,000 cameras deployed through 2018 and about 22,000 by the end of 2019.
“Our pilot program is much more extensive than what’s required by the agreement,” said Police Commissioner James O’Neill. “Initially, I wasn’t entirely convinced that wearing a camera was a good idea. But I did my due diligence and I changed my mind. I’m totally convinced that this is the way forward.”
Under department rules, cops with body cameras must have them on during all uses of force, all arrests and summonses and all interactions with people suspected of criminality. The cameras must also be recording during all searches of people and property, any officer response to a crime in progress and all interactions with emotionally disturbed people.
“Today is a historic day, as we deploy the first full tour of New York City police officers ever to formally wear body-worn cameras,” said Mayor de Blasio. “These cameras will guide a new day of policing in New York City that will further bolster the atmosphere of transparency and accountability that has grown in recent years.”
But critics weren’t convinced. They say the NYPD gives officers and their supervisors too much discretion over when they can turn the cameras on or off.
“There’s no excuse for New York City to have a second-rate policy that omits recording of critical policing encounters,” watchdog group Communities United for Police Reform said in a statement. “It’s yet another example of Mayor de Blasio going backwards on NYPD accountability and transparency, turning his back on communities and trying to conceal that with stale rhetoric.” The group urged New Yorkers to continue to use cell phones and other devices to observe and document police encounters on their own.
A federal judge ordered the NYPD to test body cameras after ruling in 2013 that unwarranted searches of blacks and Latinos were unconstitutional.
Initial public reaction was pretty favorable.
“Finally, someone is going to keep an eye on them,” said Joel Perez, 22, who lives in the neighborhood. “I feel like they kind of like to cover up in the Police Department. What’s really good is anything
happens they see it.”