Over the next two years, New York City is going to pour a lot of resources into acquiring body cameras for the police force. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced alongside Commissioner James O’Neill that the entire police force of the city is going to mandatorily wear body cameras by the end of 2018. The costs associated with this exercise haven’t been disclosed but the mayor did say that both officers and taxpayers are “making contributions.”
Blasio added that in order to push this initiative forward the city came to an agreement with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. He didn’t really make it clear what he meant by both sides making contributions.
The city previously gave out a contract for 5,000 body cameras to VieVu. A draft policy about the situations in which an officer would be required to activate their camera was circulated in the summer last year.
Simply put, it’s going to depend on the scenario. For example, officers might not wear body cameras when they’re posted at a protest so as to not record a constitutionally protected activity. An official policy draft related to the use of body cameras has not been released as yet but we can expect the city to provide that at some point in the future.
Commissioner O'Neill and I are announcing that by the end of calendar year 2019, all NYPD patrol officers will be wearing body-worn cameras. pic.twitter.com/1jk8W30Uk5
— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) January 31, 2017
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