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NYPD Needs to Beef Up Body-Camera Policies, Inspector General Says

 Philip Eure, Inspector General for the NYPD, said NYPD's pilot program needs clearer rules.
Philip Eure, Inspector General for the NYPD, said NYPD's pilot program needs clearer rules.
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DNAinfo/Rosa Goldensohn

CIVIC CENTER — The NYPD’s fledgling body camera program needs stricter rules in order to be effective, the department's inspector general said in a report Thursday.

After interviewing officers in the city’s body-camera pilot program that launched in September, as well as reviewing literature on other programs around the country, the NYPD Inspector General’s office found the department needs to encourage officers to use the cameras more frequently.

Under the current program, cameras have to be switched on only after police officers register “reasonable suspicion” of a person they approach. But that could be too late, the IG's office found.

Some encounters involving the use of force begin before officers establish reasonable suspicion, the inspector general said.

"While officers are trained to look for the signs of reasonable suspicion... when it comes to their body cameras, it may prove difficult for them to begin recording once the types of events are unfolding," Eure said.

Instead, the “NYPD should broaden the situations where BWCs [body worn cameras] should be activated, including all street encounters or all investigative contacts,” the report said.

The inspector general also found that the department must be more careful in order to prevent filming “vulnerable populations” like victims of sex crimes, abused children and confidential informants, as well as devise punishments to ensure officers follow recording rules.

NYPD officials said they planned to scale up body-camera program last month, the New York Post reported.

But the inspector general said the department needs to tighten up its plan before expanding the program.

“We think it’s important that NYPD get the policy right first,” Eure said at a press conference.  “It needs to nail down the policy before we can talk about a wider expansion of the program.”

NYPD officials said they would consider the findings.

“We are reviewing the report and we will continue to work closely with the monitor and other interested parties in going forward with the body-camera pilot project and initiatives,” NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said in a statement.

The body-camera pilot program used 54 volunteer officers from six precincts citywide. As they were volunteers, those officers had no disciplinary consequences for not following camera protocol, the report said. But in order to be effective, a scaled-up pilot will need disciplinary consequences in order to guarantee officers follow the rules, the report said.

Additionally, more training is needed for officers to understand when the cameras need to be recording, Eure said, adding that “there was significant confusion” with regard to when cameras should be on.

Once the footage is captured, it should be kept for at least 18 months so it is available in cases of civilian complaints, the IG said. The footage should also be made available to the public under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, Eure said.

The pilot program is separate from the court-ordered body-camera program that the Center for Consitutional Rights won in its 2008 case against stop-and-frisk practices, Floyd et al vs. City of New York.

Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed the NYPD's decision to use body cameras and said he looked forward to looking over the inspector general's report.

"I think body cameras are going to be an important contrubution to the reforms that we're making in the city," de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference Thursday, adding that he thinks the cameras will help "improve transparency" and improve the relationship between police and the community.