Vicksburg police are hoping to purchase cameras to keep a better eye on officers and suspects in the field.
Police Chief Walter Armstrong said he is examining funding options for purchasing body-worn cameras for the department’s more than 70 officers.
“I think they’re a wonderful idea, I would love to have them for each of the officers,” Armstrong said.
President Obama announced in December a federal initiative for $263 million in funding for law enforcement agencies to purchase body-worn cameras and improve training.
“I would like to have them sooner than later, but it’s going to depend on the funding,” Armstrong said. “We’re going to look at all possibilities to make that happen in the future.”
The White House said the funding could assist in purchasing 50,000 body-worn cameras. The cameras have become a hot-button issue around the nation since the Aug. 9 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.
Darren Wilson, the officer who shot brown, was not wearing a camera. Some critics of the shooting say if Wilson had been wearing a camera, questions surround his shooting of the unarmed black teen could be answered. Without video footage police shootings frequently boil down to a he-said, he-said situation played out in private before a grand jury.
Not everyone supports the cameras. Police unions have raised opposition, and some groups argue that body cameras could violate privacy, such as when officers are interviewing children or sexual assault victims.
Warren County Sheriff’s Department began using the cameras last May, Sheriff Martin Pace said.
“We have had cameras installed in every Warren County patrol car for about 15 years,” he said. “As we began changing out some of our older camera systems, the new systems come with a body cam attachment for the officer.”
Vicksburg police cars also have in-vehicle cameras. Videos taken from these cameras are frequently shown at criminal trials and have been used during officer disciplinary hearings. In 2012, a Vicksburg police officer was suspended after an audio/video recording inside his car captured him premeditating a stop on then-Mayor Paul Winfield and using a racial slur to refer to Winfield.
“We encourage them to use any recording devices as often as they have them available,” Armstrong said.
Both types of cameras are important tools for keeping officers accountable and gathering evidence, Pace said.
“This is just the next step in technology,” Pace said.
Video from body-worn cameras would be a tool for prosecutors to fight the common courtroom defense strategy of questioning the intentions of law enforcement officers, District Attorney Ricky Smith said.
“I would be entirely in favor of having body cameras on every officer,” Smith said. “It works both ways. It can prove guilt or that someone is not guilty.”
The video would also help convince juries that officers are acting properly when they arrest a suspect, he said.
“We live in an age where everyone expects that type of evidence in trials,” Smith said.