The number of police officers in the United States who get body cameras increases every year, but a new report says that the cameras can be a threat to civil rights if police departments do not determine when officers can review footage from their cameras. The report of the umbrella group of American civil rights interest groups called Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, says that most of the bigger police departments let the officers watch the footage whenever they want to. It is even allowed for them to watch the footage before writing reports or making statements.
“Unrestricted footage review places civil rights at risk and undermines the goals of transparency and accountability,” says Vanita Gupta, head of the Leadership Conference, in the report’s introduction.
According to the report named “The Illusion of Accuracy: How Body-Worn Camera Footage Can Distort Evidence,” officers may change their reports after watching body camera footage and that can make it more difficult for investigators and courts to establish whether the actions of the police officer were reasonable. The Leadership Conference also released a scorecard which says that 62 of the 69 biggest police departments in the United States have body camera programs and 55 allow officers to review the footage whenever they want, Newsweek informs. According to the report, the officers should write their initial report before reviewing the footage and their second report after that, but some experts believe that the officers should watch the footage before writing the report just to be sure that the account is correct.
“They want to be as accurate as they can. This specter that every time an officer looks at the video they’re going to lie and adapt their statement just is infuriating because we want the officers to write the most accurate report they can,” Lance LoRusso, an Atlanta attorney who represents police officers, said.
Be the first to comment