The Obama administration is supporting a movement to equip police with body cameras to record their on-duty activities, as a response to the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
Answering an online petition on the White House’s “We the People” page, a White House official said the administration backs the use of cameras worn buy law-enforcement officers.
“As Ferguson continues to heal as a community, this administration will continue to work to ensure that our justice system, across the country, is truly just,” said Roy Austin Jr., an assistant to President Obama in the Office of Urban Affairs, Justice and Opportunity in the Domestic Policy Council. “We’ll continue to work to support the use of video technology, review and evaluate law enforcement agencies that use it, and continue to engage in discussions about how this technology impacts policing, communities, and public safety.”
More than 154,000 people have signed the online petition in a month, easily surpassing the required 100,000 signatures needed to receive a response from the White House.
Mr. Austin said the Justice Department is researching best practices to implement cameras and other video technology for police. He attached a 2013 Justice report that outlined the benefits of cameras but gave no estimate of the cost.
The report said police departments that use cameras found evidence that both officers and civilians “acted in a more positive manner when they were aware that a camera was present,” and that useful evidence of interactions often was captured on video.
At a labor convention in Missouri on Monday, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said racism is to blame for shooting deaths such as Michael Brown’s on Aug. 9 at the hands of a white police officer.
“Other young men of color have died and will die in similar circumstances in communities all across this country,” Mr. Trumka said.
“It happened here, but it could have happened, and does happen, anywhere in America. Because the reality is we still have racism in America.”
Law-enforcement agencies, including the Justice Department, have not issued a final determination of what led to the shooting. Police initially said the teen resisted arrest after the officer stopped him and a friend on the street.
The White House said there are “unanswered questions” about the use of police cameras, including privacy implications.
Mr. Austin added, “The issue of cost also cannot be ignored.”
“We also know that cameras alone will not solve the problem where there is mistrust between police and communities,” he said. “As a nation, we must continue to address this lack of trust. Most Americans are law abiding and most law enforcement officers work hard day in and day out to protect and serve their communities.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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