President Pushes Body Cameras as CT Moves Ahead With Program

President Barack Obama announced this week that he wants $20 million in grants for police body cameras to be distributed across the country.

Top legislative leaders in Connecticut said that while the gesture from the president is "largely symbolic," the state has taken steps to expand the use of the devices on its own.

The General Assembly's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee provided $15 million in bonds to pay for a pilot program that would provide body cameras to three municipalities: one small, one medium and one large.

"Communities of different sizes have different issues," said Sen. Martin Looney, the top ranking member in the Connecticut State Senate. "Their police departments operate, of course, according to standard, but there are some differences based on the size of the communities and the nature of law enforcement in those communities."

Body cameras have become a standard in some police departments in Connecticut, but major cities like Hartford and New Haven have yet to adopt them.

Looney, a Democrat from New Haven, said it's common sense at this point to provide instant accountability in the form of a camera.

"If a police officer is doing his or her job correctly then that will document it and if a citizen is being abused, that will also be documented," Looney said.

Critics of the cameras in Connecticut have said they aren't opposed to their use out in the field per se, but that there are instances when the camera must be turned off.

Examples include when police meet with informants in neighborhoods and when they meet with some witnesses.

State Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, a Republican from Prospect, said in March that she knows of other medical instances when people may want privacy from cameras on police officers.

"I actually had one of my friends have a baby in the driveway and I know if that was me I would want the camera off," Zupkus said.

Looney agrees with that assessment.

"We need to make sure of is that we have a good, effective working standard for the use of this technology," he said.

Police departments and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised concerns about the costs of storing the data and files recorded by the cameras. While the cameras have costs, they are concerned that data storage and management could be even more expensive.

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