HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 07-18 How are Minnesota Police Departments using body cameras? WCCO7/19/2016 How Are Minnesota Police Departments Using Body Cameras? « WCCO I CBS Minnesota
How Are Minnesota Police Departments Using
Body Cameras?
July 18, 2016 5:02 PM By Jennifer Mayerle
Filed Under: IBody Carneras, Jennifer Mayerlle, 1131hillaino Castile
f MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Eight Il;)(Dlllice officers have been killed in
Baton Rouge and Dallas in the past two weeks following the police
shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and I1::11hii11aindo Castile in St. Paul,
+ Minnesota.
Baton Rouge police wear IIoody cameras. Their own video could help
piece together what unfolded on Sunday. In Minnesota, the governor
signed a body camera bill into law in May. WCCO looked at how
departments use them and what it means for the public.
Burnsville was the first police department in Minnesota to use body
cameras, adopting them in 2010.
And several .il..d.eoi3 have been made public.
At least 40 departments across the state use ,II,�„�,�;;y, cameras, including
.............................
Maplewood police.
"I think they will help with transparency, they will help some with
accountability, they will help even with evidence collection and all these
things are crucial,” Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said.
Maplewood has five right now but will expand to the entire department
later this year. Schnell was instrumental in the body camera bill signed
earlier this year by the governor.
"There is compelling public interest in what's happening," Schnell said,
"The public itself doesn't have as much access as they used to," Matt
Ehling with Minnesota Coalition on Government .IL.IC:.:II''; ..ii..:ga...:;ll..; ..ii:. said.
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7/19/2016 How Are Minnesota Police Departments Using Body Cameras? « WCCO I CBS Minnesota
The organization that pushes for government transparency wanted the
law to be more open. Ehling said there are two ways Odeoi is public.
"The video has to document use of force by a police officer that would
result in substantial bodily harm, the second would be it's got to
document use of a firearm, discharge of a firearm by a police officer in the
course of their duty," Ehling said.
While other video, like traffic stops, is restricted to the public, Schnell said
all video is available.
"I think what's most important is that the data that body cameras collect is
not secret, it is data that is available to the subjects of the data," Schnell
said.
That means a person in a video can obtain it and then make that video
public.
Ehling said there is a difference between body cameras and dash cam
video. Dash cam video is still open to the public, and viewable by anyone.
Jennifer Mayerle
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