Durkan orders SPD officers to turn on body cameras at protests

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

SEATTLE - During a press conference Sunday evening, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announced new policies in response to demonstrations held around the city for the past 10 days, including an emergency order for police to turn on their body cameras during demonstrations.

"SPD's response needs to be better measured," Durkan said. "While the accountability system will review all of the facts, the response seemed to quick, too quick to escalate, and too quick to deploy flash bangs, pepper spray, and the deployment of the National Guard."

Chief Best also announced that the Seattle Police Department will reduce the number of officers outside of the East Precinct and remove some of the protective gear officers have been wearing.

Link to tweet

?s=20

"You got young people like this out here to say black lives matter," said King County Councilman Girmay Zahilay. "And then you look across the line and you see what the police are wearing -- riot shields, batons, weapons..."

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Durkan-orders-SPD-officers-to-turn-on-body-15324271.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=spi_itsintheseattlepi

[guillaumeb]

1. Amazing how, so many times, when the police are engaging in beating civilians,

the body cameras just happen to be off, or malfunctioning.

[SeattleVet]

2. Unstated was the original reason that the bodycams were off at demonstrations.

An agreement was made with SPD NOT to have cameras turned on when confronting most protests, so they couldn't go back through the footage to identify protesters. It was a privacy issue, to the benefit of innocent protesters and others.

There is a statement on the SPD site with an explanation. While some may not trust this coming from SPD, I do remember the talks that went on when they first started using the bodycams and the agreements that were reached in conjunction with the ACLU and other organizations. I also remember that one of the fears back then was that the cops would use this as a way to avoid scrutiny in many situations, as has now happened.

This explains the policy, along with some of the background and information about specific types of situations:
https://www.seattle.gov/police/about-us/body-worn-video

Remember that there are situations where bodycam captured video has to be made public, and there are some specific exemptions and situations where video is not supposed to be used (potentially identifying domestic violence victims or other innocent individuals, etc.). SPD is still under federal oversight for past gross and systemic abuses of civil and constitutional rights. The city had requested an end to the oversight a while ago, but as of last week they have now withdrawn that request in light of recent police actions against peaceful protesters.