San Diego police body-camera videos may not be available to public

 

A police body camera.

Video filmed with body cameras worn by San Diego police officers will not be made available to the public for now, according to a report at the Voice of San Diego.

A handful of officers in downtown San Diego and surrounding districts have been wearing cameras clipped to their uniforms as part of a pilot program. “What the camera does is a visual and verbal recording of contacts between the Police Department,” said former police chief William Lansdowne in January, according to the report. “Everybody gets to look at them and find out if they’re acting correctly and properly. It protects the officers as well as the citizens.”

Officers wearing the cameras have recorded two shootings since the program started, but SDPD has declined to make the videos available to the public, citing that they are part of an ongoing investigation. The department also says that they aren’t legally required to release the videos, and current police chief Shelley Zimmerman said that the department is still deciding on the best policy regarding current and future body-cam footage.

Read the report here, and tell us what you think. Should police forces be required to make photos and videos available to the public?

(Via Voice of San Diego)