The South Portland Police Department will begin equipping its on-duty officers with body cameras in a matter of weeks, becoming the first department in Greater Portland to adopt the technology. But even as the city moves toward adopting a measure that advocates say offers greater transparency, the police department says it will not permit city residents to read the policies that govern when the police force will be recording them. Chief Edward Googins has declined to provide specifics about when they must be turned on or off, and when officers have the power to decide that a situation is worth recording. This withholding of basic policy information about how police will use a law enforcement tool goes against recommendations developed in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Justice, which said that body camera policy should be developed with community participation, and with full disclosure of what the rules are once they are finalized. “Policies should be specific enough to provide clear and consistent guidance yet allow room for flexibility as the (body camera) program evolves,” according to a summary of the report. “Agencies should make the policies available to the public.”
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/0...-body-cameras/