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Officers will wear the cameras on their uniforms or “outermost garment" during criminal investigations, motor vehicle stops, witness interviews in criminal investigations, searches, civil disorder, use of force and constructive authority, transporting prisoners, making arrests and conducting protective searches for weapons.
Mayor Andre Sayegh said the move, following a directive from state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, "will allow for greater transparency in the police department."
“Body cameras not only enhance accountability in policing, they protect the vast majority of officers who do the right thing day-in and day-out, reducing unfounded complaints,” Grewal recently said.
Not that they're necessarily a cure-all.
A study released in late November of NYPD officers equipped with body cams reported no “statistically significant changes in the number of arrests, arrests with force, summonses, domestic incident reports, and citizen crime complaint reports.”
Federal monitor Peter Zimroth conducted the study by analyzing a a one-year snapshot of city police equipped with the cameras.
“The use of BWCs is not a panacea, as the results of the study show," Zimroth wrote. "But it is a powerful tool for increasing transparency and accountability for the public and for police officials."
Sayegh and city Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale have scheduled an official announcement for 11 a.m. Tuesday in the council chambers at City Hall, joined by officers trained in the use of the body-worn camera.
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