"Should Police Agencies Require Officers to Wear Body Cameras?"

Discussion Questions

1. Should officers who wear BWCs be required to notify citizens that their interaction is being recorded? 2. Video storage is one of the major financial costs associated with BWC systems. With this in mind, should video of police interactions with citizens be stored indefinitely? If not, how long should it be stored? Under what circumstances should video be deleted? 3. BWC systems allow officers to activate and deactivate the technology. This is to protect the officer's privacy (such as during lunch or restroom breaks) and to save on the costs of video storage space. Under what circumstances should officers be required to turn the BWC on, and when should they be allowed to turn it off? 4. Who should have access to videos that are recorded by police BWCs? Many police records are available to the public and can be obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Should video records also be available to the public?