Rahsaan Hall, director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, today released the following statement in response to Boston City Council reviewing a report on the Boston Police Department’s yearlong test of body-worn cameras:
“We are pleased that the Boston City Council is reviewing the Boston Police Department’s body-worn camera pilot, and we urge the Council to make sure that all the necessary steps are being taken to ensure the full implementation of a body-worn camera program with strong privacy protections. With the right civilian privacy protections in place, body-worn cameras can be an important step towards greater oversight and accountability of police officers, and a critical tool for evaluating the accuracy of information contained within police reports as well as civilian complaints against police.
“Since 2014 the ACLU of Massachusetts has advocated for the Boston Police Department to adopt a body-worn camera program with the strong privacy protections – and recent events involving the Boston Police Department have shown that there is still a need for a program like this.”
