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Civil Rights Group Calls for SPD Body Camera Policy to Include Community Input

nyclu.org

A Central New York civil rights watchdog group says the expansion of the police department’s body camera program is only as good as the policy that guides their use.  One hundred officers could be wearing the cameras by early next month as part of a one-year trial.  

Yusuf Abdul-Qadir commends the Walsh administration’s effort to improve transparency and accountability in the police department.  But the director of the CNY chapter of the NYCLU wants to make sure that the policy being drawn up between SPD and the county district attorney’s office is comprehensive and inclusive.

There are particular measures we have to take to ensure that the impetus behind wanting body cameras Calls from community members, both locally and the national conversation that we’re having about police accountability, need to be thought through not just through the lens of the criminal justice system, but thought through from a whole host of perspectives like civil rights and civil liberties.”

Abdul-Qadir says a more collaborative effort that includes stakeholders like his organization results in better body camera policy.  He says otherwise, there’s a risk the program could backfire.          

“Without having that process to engage folks, without ensuring there isn’t some kind of group that is more representative of community voices, I don’t think we’ll get to a process where the trust will be built.  In fact, if there aren’t good policies, people will say why do we even believe in this process, and people are more likely to become disengaged.”

Abdul-Qadir says fundamental guidelines should include forbidding an officer to turn off the camera; not using the cameras to surveil citizens, and ensuring access to footage by the public and the media.  He says this can only help the department overcome ongoing concerns about use of force.

We, the NYCLU, have litigated in the past around the use of Tasers that have changed aspects of the use of force policy, but have not addressed the broader challenges within the use of force policy.  We’ve seen the city have to expend millions of dollars in litigation because individuals have successfully demonstrated excessive force.”

Abdul-Qadir says the public puts a significant amount of trust in police to act professionally.  He says it’s in the city’s best interest to have engaged stakeholders that can help craft a solid body camera policy.

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.