John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) One of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s goals has been achieved – equipping all 2,600 city police officers with body cameras.
Bowser made the announcement with interim police chief Peter Newsham at Thursday roll call. Newsham told officers the program will be successful largely because they wanted the technology.
“You all wanted to wear these body cameras,” he said. “You wanted everyone to see what you do.”
Bowser claims D.C. leads the nation in the deployment of the cameras, which started as a pilot program launched by Bowser’s predecessor former Mayor, Vincent Gray, in 2014.
Over the past two years, as the initiative has grown, police have recorded more than 500,000 videos containing more than 100,000 hours of footage.
The body cameras are worn by uniformed officers only. Detectives and plainclothes officers are not required to wear the devices, which are worn to address concerns of accountability and to create a public record of interactions involving officers.
Bowser said the program “underscores our commitment to transparency and accountability in police-resident engagements.”
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Mayor Muriel Bowser Twitter)
