NYPD Body Camera Program Gets Greenlight From Federal Judge
The body camera pilot program originated in 2013, but was postponed repeatedly as various groups debated over how to put it into action.
A federal judge denied a request by police-reform groups that the NYPD's body camera pilot program, set to begin this week, should be halted over concerns the plan has numerous problems that need to be fixed.
NEW YORK CITY -The New York Police Department will go forward with outfitting police officers with body cameras after a federal judge in Manhattan denied a request by civil lawyers to halt a long-delayed pilot program.
The pilot program, under which 1,200 New York City police officers are to wear body cameras beginning this week, had been delayed over privacy and other concerns. The program was ordered by a judge following a 2013 ruling that officers were wrongly targeting black and Hispanic men with its stop-and-frisk program.
It had been repeatedly postponed as various groups, including the police, the courts and the public, struggled with how it would be carried out.
Lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the initial lawsuit, filed a letter April 19 in Federal District Court arguing that the draft policy governing how the cameras would be used and how the resulting footage would be retrieved and stored was seriously flawed. Their request came after the policy was approved by the independent monitor overseeing stop-and-frisk changes ordered by the court.
In an order, Judge Analisa Torres said an objection filed by lawyers who brought the suit that led to the program’s creation was premature, according to the New York Times.
Darius Charney, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the lead lawyer in the initial case, Floyd v. City of New York, which challenged stop-and-frisk practices of the New York Police Department, said his team was disappointed and confused by the judge’s decision.
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“In this context, I don’t know what’s premature about it,” he said, adding that the group would review recent court filings to “figure out if we missed something, then decide what we’re going to do.”
In a statement, a spokesman for the Police Department said, “We are pleased with court’s ruling and look forward to the upcoming implementation of the body camera program.”
The body camera program’s stated intent was to promote police accountability and transparency, and to protect communities that have faced aggressive police tactics, according to the Times. But Center for Constitutional Rights lawyers, backed by national civil rights groups and local police reform advocates, said the policy failed to include provisions necessary to achieve those ends.
The program will begin on Thursday with officers working the evening shift in Manhattan’s 34th Precinct, which serves the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods, the Times reported.
The Police Department has planned to expand the yearlong pilot program to 20 precincts by the fall. The cameras would later be used by the entire patrol force, which officials estimate will increase to 23,000 officers by 2019.
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