Not One New York Police Officer Has a Body Camera

Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=18459"><span class="small">Joseph Goldstein, The New York Times</span></a>

Thursday, 06 October 2016 08:46

Goldstein writes: "In 2013, after finding the department's stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional, the judge ordered that a pilot program be established in at least five precincts. Three years later, not one of the department's approximately 35,800 officers is wearing a body camera."

New York Police Department officer. (photo: Getty)

Not One New York Police Officer Has a Body Camera

By Joseph Goldstein, The New York Times

06 October 16

he New York Police Department once seemed poised to be an early adopter of body cameras. A federal judge thought the technology could curb unwarranted stops and searches of black and Hispanic men. So in 2013, after finding the department�s stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional, the judge ordered that a pilot program be established in at least five precincts.

Three years later, not one of the department�s approximately 35,800 officers is wearing a body camera, even as the devices have become a staple for officers elsewhere.

The Police Department says it is committed to outfitting officers with body cameras, and on Monday said that a company had been chosen to supply up to 5,000 over the next five years. But a contract has yet to be signed, and a rollout of the cameras would not begin for months.

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