Agenda Text
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Conveying recommendations for an effective body worn camera Use Policy in Somerville.
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Official Text
City of Somerville, Massachusetts
City Council
Ben Ewen-Campen
Ward 3 City Councilor
August 21, 2022
Communication: Recommendations for an effective body worn camera Use Policy in Somerville
“...If [body worn cameras are] to be effective at providing oversight, reducing police abuses, and increasing community trust, it is vital that they be deployed with good policies to ensure they accomplish those goals. Without good policies, they risk becoming just another police surveillance device-and one with very real potential to invade privacy.”
-ACLU of Massachusetts, Body Worn Cameras: What’s At Stake? (Emphasis mine.)
1. Summary: The purpose of this Communication is to outline the baseline changes to Somerville’s Police Body-Worn Camera (BWC) policy and associated contractual agreements that I believe are necessary to ensure BWCs are an effective tool for police accountability, oversight, and transparency in Somerville. The City Council controls the funding for BWCs, and therefore has an important role to play in establishing an effective policy, and I respectfully urge my colleagues to use our budgetary discretion to ensure that these best practices are implemented. The policy planks that I believe are necessary are listed below in Section 3.
2. Background on BWC implementation in Somerville: In March of 2021, the Curtatone administration announced that, after several years of negotiation, they had reached an agreement with the Somerville Police Employee Association (SPEA) to implement body worn cameras.
As part of this agreement, the Curtatone Administration and SPEA agreed to a Use Policy governing BWCs, as well as a salary increase linked to their implementation. In June of 2022, the Ballantyne Administration included a funding request for BWC implementation as part of the proposed FY2023 budget.
In June of 2022, as part of...
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