DHS adopts body-worm camera policy for law enforcement
The Department of Homeland Security said it was adopting a new body-worn camera policy for all nine law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Protective Service.
The new policy announced Tuesday will require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras when responding to emergency calls, during planned arrests and when executing search warrants or orders. The department-wide order also said officers are not permitted to wear body cameras “for the sole purpose of recording persons engaged in First Amendment activities.”
The policy comes nearly a year after President Joe Biden signed an executive order requiring law enforcement to review their use of force policies amid the fallout from the death of George Floyd by a police officer of Minneapolis, sparking international outrage.
The new policy also comes as Customs and Border Protection recently released body-worn camera footage of Border Patrol agents fatally shooting a man, a U.S. citizen, who allegedly walked through a checkpoint. Border Patrol checkpoint in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The agency said the driver led them in a pursuit with his SUV and on foot on April 2 and that the driver repeatedly refused to comply with officers’ demands to surrender, later hitting an officer with a club. wood before officers shot him 16 times. .
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico had called for an investigation and the release of the officers’ video to “allow the public to see for themselves the events leading up to this shooting.”
DHS policy is built on public trust, ‘accountability and transparency’
Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas on Monday signed the policy detailing when officers must wear body-worn cameras. In a statement, Mayorkas said the ability to protect the country rests on public trust, which “is built through accountability, transparency and efficiency,” in its practices.
“Requiring the use of body-worn cameras by our officers and law enforcement officers is another important step by DHS to bring our law enforcement to the forefront of innovation and to build public confidence in the thousands of dedicated and professional law enforcement officers at DHS,” Mayorkas said.
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Each homeland security agency should develop its own body camera policies
The new Homeland Security mandate states that each agency with law enforcement officers must create or update its agency-worn camera policy that meets or exceeds the outlined standards within the next 180 days.
“Agency policies should include LEOs (law enforcement officers) responsibilities for transporting, maintaining, and securing BWC (body-worn camera) equipment, including when to activate and deactivate BWCs,” indicates the policy. “Agency policies should identify specialized or sensitive investigative techniques or equipment that may require different treatment under BWC policy.”
The policy builds on nearly a year after Biden signed the executive order to promote effective and accountable policing and strengthen public safety on the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. The executive order required law enforcement to review their use of force policies.
“It’s long overdue,” Robert Griffin, dean of the University of Albany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity, told USA TODAY about the policy on Tuesday. “A camera can become the great equalizer between what an officer says and what the people who interact with him say.
“(A camera) is a third party that can verify what action was taken,” said Griffin, who previously served as acting undersecretary in the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s good for our society, our law enforcement and our justice system.”
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, many DHS agencies have issued body-worn camera policies for the past two years.
Customs and Border Protection issued approximately 6,000 body cameras in its department in August 2021. Meanwhile, ICE launched a pilot body camera program in November 2021 and the Secret Service established its specific policy on of body cameras in September 2022.
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