Providence Police call body cams “beneficial,” ACLU voices privacy concerns

September 19, 2016 9:22 pm

For 8 weeks, 10 Providence Police officers tested out two brands of body cameras.

The program organizer, Capt. Dean Isabella, is so pleased with the results, he wants the cameras to become a permanent addition to the uniform.

"The officers overwhelmingly once they got the equipment and used it for the trial period, liked the equipment thought it was an asset in their ability to do their jobs. So, we found it to be very beneficial,” said Isabella.

The President of the Police Union, Sgt. Robert Boehm, says his members were skeptical at first but the trial made them more open to the idea.

"For our patrol officers as of now we don’t see an issue with it or a problem with it. But, if we were to go forward we would have to sit down again and discuss more policies,” said Boehm.

That last point something the ACLU feels very strongly about. Hillary Davis says she wants to see a full report detailing the specifics of the trial, figuring out what worked and what didn’t. Her biggest concern moving forward is privacy.

"We have had concerns relating to when the cameras can be turned on and off, how the data is being stored, who can access it, how it’s being used,” said Davis.

As it stands right now, individual officers have a lot of discretion about when the cameras are used.

"Some of those reasons are valid they are for officer safety,” said Davis. “There are some that maybe aren’t quite as pressing. That’s very concerning to us. We don’t want cameras turned on after a situation has gone down."

So far, Capt. Isabella says the video has been requested in 2 trials.

The city has applied for federal grants to help with funding, but Isabella says the biggest cost moving forward will be data storage for all the footage.