Florida Police Department to Begin Using Body-Mounted Cameras

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Sarasota police officers will begin wearing body-mounted cameras later this year in an effort to increase police transparency.

That’s a topic of heightened national interest in the wake of the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.

But rather than resist the accountability measure, the Sarasota Police Department is the initiative’s chief proponent.

“It’s a modern and professional use of technology to modify people’s behaviors, both the police officer and the citizen,” Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said in an email.

These cameras will give a look from a police officer’s perspective and we will be able to capture information, and it will be able to help us with training. It will help us make sure our police officers are doing what they’re supposed to be doing and also make sure the citizens’ actions are captured to help for use in evidence later.

With growing concerns over the militarization of local police forces at a fever pitch, it’s unclear whether body-mounted cameras, also worn by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, will add to authoritarian impressions of police.

Trevor Burrus, research fellow for the libertarian Cato Institute’s Center for Constitutional Studies, calls them “essential.”

“I’m not sure why they aren’t being used more,” Burrus said. “They would eliminate many disputes with police by providing a record.”

John Whitehead, a constitutional attorney for the Virginia-based Rutherford Institute, said law enforcement body cameras are inevitable but is concerned about the potential for abuse.

“It may reduce some violence, but they are another way law enforcement is watching us,” Whitehead said in an interview. “We shouldn’t have to live in a society where citizens expect to be recorded by police.”

On that point, DiPino told the city commission, “Cameras are not anything new.”

We actually have cameras in police cars. There are cameras on roadways. We have red light camera poles and highways have them as well. So when people talk about their privacy being violated, you’re on camera now, you might as well consider yourself on camera.

Read more on Watchdog.org.