NEW YORK CITY — Police officers out on patrols will soon increase the use of body cameras and the NYPD wants your input on how to best use the technology.
The NYPD and the Policing Project at New York University Law School released a brief online questionnaire Wednesday where participants can give their opinions relating to whether body cameras should be used, under what circumstances officers may use them and when officers and citizens should be allowed to access the footage.
The questionnaire is a precursor to the rollout of a pilot program of roughly 1,000 new body cameras that will be used by officers in select precincts throughout the city.
"Public input into policy is very common in government but it’s been relatively uncommon around policing," Barry Friedman, Director of the Policing Project, told DNAinfo New York. "We think that it will only strengthen community trust in police and the legitimacy of police agencies to involve the public in decisions about policy."
Wednesday, the first day the questionnaire was available, Friedman said 500 people had already completed it.
After the NYPD first launched its body camera program in 2014, a review by the NYPD's Inspector General's office found that officers needed to use the cameras more consistently, rather than only after officers registered a reasonable suspicion.
Currently, the proposed policy for use of the body cameras by NYPD requires officers to turn on the camera in a number of situations, including:
• All arrests, summonses, searches of persons and property, and any stop or frisk.
• When responding to a crime in progress.
• When patrolling inside a New York Housing Authority (NYCHA) building, or a building enrolled in the Trespass Affidavit Program (TAP).
• When transporting a prisoner or any person in police custody to a police station, hospital, or jail.
• When interacting with someone who may be experiencing an emotional disturbance.
The questionnaire will be up until July 31, 2016. The Policing Project will then prepare a report for the NYPD that will summarize all of the comments received.
The NYPD will then issue a statement to explain how the department adjusted its policy based on the findings and why.
Click here to access the questionnaire.
