Camden County Cops Look Into Body Cameras
By KYW's David Madden
(CAMDEN, NJ) -- The use of body cameras by police departments is growing from coast to coast. But one South Jersey department is working to develop standards for their use, and including the concerns of the people they serve.
Twenty members of the Camden County police are part of a pilot study to develop rules of the road, as it were, that exceed those already in place from the state.
"We're partnering with NYU Law School, The Policing Project, to glean this feedback and the voice of the community into some of the components of how body cameras could be used, should be used," police Chief Scott Thomson told KYW Newsradio.
Residents have had a chance to chime in, anonymously on line, to voice some of their concerns.
"Do they want the officer to tell them when they're recording and do they want the ability to have a say on when they're being recorded," Thomson said. "Do they feel as though that, if they're recorded, the media or their neighbors should see a copy of that."
The school will make suggestions in short order, and Thomson wants more community input before any new policy is put in effect. Twenty cops now have body cams, but plans are to issue one to every Camden officer by summer.
