Proposal for police body cameras heads to Boston City Council

Evans and other police leaders discussed the idea during a meeting at Boston City Hall on Wednesday night. He’s with the Boston Police Camera Action team and helped draft the proposal.

Boston City Councilor Charles Yancey said, “It’s about time that Boston stands up and provides the opportunity for the general public to know that their interaction with police will be transparent”.

Boston Police Chief William Gross said, “The people that I’ve talked to in the community really don’t care for body cameras; and the people that I’ve talked to during protests are from Newton, Wellsley, Cambridge, and other places”.

Carol Rose of the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union said, among the 25 largest cities in America, only four, including Boston, have yet to adopt some type of body-worn camera or pilot body-camera program. Towns and cities where body cameras have been adopted and used have seen a “dramatic decline” in use of force and citizen complaints, she said.

But Evans reiterated that the department wants to move ahead slowly.

“My position is that we’re getting blamed for what’s happening across the country”.

Mayor Marty Walsh was not at the hearing but says both he and the commissioner are looking into the cameras and say they’re only “one tool” in police work, and do not address the fundamental problems of inequity.

City Councilor At-Large Ayanna Pressley said she has been “grappling” with the issue of body cameras.

On Wednesday, at the first of what’s expected to be several hearings on the issue, the Boston City Council heard opinions on the controversial proposal. “Two, a camera doesn’t solve the issues”.

“What we are presenting here today is not the solution, but it is a solution”, Idowu said.

“I think we should tread carefully for all concerns mentioned, constitutionally, cost to a lesser extent, but certainly I think we can handle this if we thoughtfully proceed together in working out these details”, he said.