Justice Department: $20 Million For Police Body Cameras

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has awarded $20 million to over 100 police departments across the country to help purchase body-cameras for officers and to train them in how to properly use them.

On Sept. 26, the DOJ announced the grant on its official website, billing it as an effort to help police departments regain trust in their communities

The award is funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) “Fiscal Year 2016 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program.”

The BJA will grant $16 million to 106 police departments that are located in 32 states, Puerto Rico and Native American tribal communities. The remaining $3 million will be allocated to body-camera training. $474,000 had already been awarded earlier in 2016.

“As we strive to support local leaders and law enforcement officials in their work to protect their communities, we are mindful that effective public safety requires more than arrests and prosecutions,” Lynch said.

“It also requires winning — and keeping — the trust and confidence of the citizens we serve,” Lynch continued. These grants will help more than 100 law enforcement agencies promote transparency and ensure accountability, clearing the way for the closer cooperation between residents and officers that is so vital to public safety.”

Body-cameras have become a popular solution for law enforcement agencies facing distrust from communities. Footage of police officers using excessive force or even gunning down people, particularly African Americans, has led to a public outcry for more transparency and accountability.

In 2014, a study conducted by Arizona State University found no evidence that body-cameras worn by Phoenix police officers had helped regain community trust, The Atlantic reports.

While the study concluded that body-cameras did not provide a better perception of law enforcement, it did note that the technology “may increase officer productivity, reduce the number of complaints against officers, decrease the number of founded complaints against them, and increase the effectiveness in which criminal cases are processed in the courts.”

Body-cameras have been a key point in the shooting of North Carolina resident Keith Lamont Scott, whose death has sparked volatile protests in Charlotte.

While police on the scene said that Scott had a gun, his family has contested that he was actually holding a book. Body-camera footage of the scene has offered no visual clues as to whether or not Scott was armed.

Audio of the incident could have provided key evidence as to what had happened, but one of the officers on the scene wearing a body-camera had failed to manually activate their device before Scott was shot, violating department policy, The Washington Post reports.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department uses body-cameras that are constantly recording footage, but they have to be manually activated to capture sound.

Justin Bamberg, an attorney representing the Scott family, noted that the lack of audio reveals that the officer recording the scene had failed to follow protocol.

“It’s evident from the body camera footage that was released, based on how these cameras operate, that the officer did not hit the button to begin recording until after Mr. Scott had already been shot,” Bamberg said.

Sources: The Atlantic, The United States Department of Justice, The Washington Post / Photo Credit: West Midlands Police/Flickr