SEPTA Police Release First Report On Impact Of Body Cameras
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- SEPTA Transit Police have worn body cameras for more than a year now. On Monday, officials released an audit on the first six months of the initiative -- and how they can make it better.
The audit looked at nearly 14,000 videos taken from January to June of 2016.
"Response to resistant incidents are down, offender injuries are down," said Chief Tom Nestel, "and complaints logged against police officers are down."
Nestel says they targeted areas of improvement, like camera placement -- and officers simply remembering to turn it on.
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"Officers are being advised when they forget, and eventually if they don't change their behavior, discipline will occur." Nestel said.
Overall, he says it's been a helpful way for people on both sides of the lens.
"It's not an unusual circumstance when I get a review file that says the body-worn camera video exonerates the officer of any wrong doing," Nestel said.
The police are using the videos for both investigative and training purposes.
