Minneapolis Police Now Require Body Cameras To Keep Recording At Crime Scenes
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- There are more rules in place for police wearing body cameras in Minneapolis.
Officers now need to keep the cameras rolling the entire time they are at scene or taking any law-enforcement action. Before, officers could deactivate their cameras if they wanted to have a private discussion. Those conversations can still be redacted from body-camera footage before it's released to the public.
Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo say the policy update is meant to increase transparency and accountability. This is the second in a series of body camera policy changes in the city. The first was implemented in June, which prohibits officers from reviewing footage before submitting their police report.
The changes came in the wake of the death of George Floyd last May.
Floyd, who was Black and handcuffed, died May 25 after Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd's neck as Floyd said he couldn't breathe. Floyd's death was captured in widely seen bystander video that set off protests in Minneapolis and around the world calling for police reforms.
The procedures regarding body cameras have been widely discussed in the case of another former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman. Mohamed Noor was convicted in the 2017 shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault.
The incident commander turned her body camera off when talking to Noor in the moments after the shooting. Other officers told him not to say a word, according to prosecutors and court testimony. Many responding officers turned their body cameras on and off at different times.
Frey and Arradondo have issued other policy changes in recent months, including new approaches to no-knock warrants, documenting attempts to de-escalate situations, expanding reporting requirements for use-of-force incidents and banning the use of chokeholds.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)