Allegheny County Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a measure to equip every police officer in the county with body cameras by the end of the year.
Republican Councilman Sam DeMarco says his bill would help to protect police and residents as well as provide crucial evidence for investigations. "I think that there's going to be a significant benefit here, because when there's an incident that occurs, you'll be able to see how the encounter unfolded from the very beginning."
He points to studies which show cops and community members tend to remain calm when they know they're being recorded.
"This civilizing effect may prevent certain situations from escalating to levels requiring use of force and improve interactions between officers and citizens," explained DeMarco.
Related
"If you look at many of these incidents that occur nationwide and lead to many of these protests and things like that, they're because some bystander started filming and gets a snippet of video of an encounter that's already well underway and then this thing hits and goes viral. There's no context around it no do you understand how the encounter unfolded," said DeMarco.
Footage could also be used for training.
DeMarco plans to negotiate with vendors for the best price but says the county can cover the cost with grants and private donations.