The city of Hartford could be one step closer to requiring its police officers to wear body cameras as the City Council plans to vote on the proposal Tuesday night.
The meeting was rescheduled from Monday due to the snowstorm.
Police departments in East Haven, Branford and Hamden have already made the decision to use body cameras. The cameras are a relatively new technology that police forces across the country have used to document the activities of officers and their interactions with the people in their communities.
“We have great officers out there and this is good for showing the decrease in complaints against police,” Hartford City Council President Shawn Wooden, who supports the resolution, previously said.
If approved, the resolution would require Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Chief of Police James Rovella to craft a road map of sorts on how to implement the cameras and policies governing them.
The plan would be due to the city council by March 15.
Hartford police don’t oppose the cameras and concede that they’ve heard Hartford residents support the idea. They are, however, cautious about the logistics of how and when they’re used and how to handle the data and footage.
“It’s not the initial cost of the body cameras, it’s the storage,” Deputy Chief Brian Foley previously said, explaining that the cameras cost between $300 and $1,000 apiece. “Let’s say we put out 150 body cameras, max – 150 cops walking around with them, 150 cameras that need to be maintained and each day, the data needs to be stored and processed.”
Foley also said there are questions around the country regarding the use of the cameras and how they’re handled when Freedom of Information requests are submitted.
“These are all things that we would have to discuss with our union,” Foley previously said.
Calls to the Hartford Police Union were not returned.
Wooden said the cameras on their own will help to restore trust when residents know their interactions with law enforcement are being recorded.
“We want people to believe in our police officers. We want people in the community to trust that everything is on the up and up,” Wooden previously said.
Foley agrees with Wooden but described the cameras as a “two-way street.” He said in one sense, there are no secrets about police activity and interactions; however, Foley said he sees some issues with obtaining information.
“There’s going to be instances where informants, neighborhood contacts, they’re going to say, "Hey, there’s bad stuff going on or they’re dealing drugs out of that house.' People aren’t going to tell you that if they know they’re being recorded,” he explained.
The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Hartford's city hall at 550 Main Street. Click here to read the full agenda.
