Body cams would be valuable addition

Cameras worn by police on their uniforms are expensive, raise privacy concerns and record material that must be stored securely, perhaps for years. But despite all that, we think so-called “body cams” for all South Carolina police officers would be a good idea.

State lawmakers are mulling a bill that would require all officers to wear body cams that would record all contacts they have with the public. Officers would have to inform people that they are wearing the devices and that everything recorded would be kept and stored.

But the proposal immediately raised objections from some departments, especially because of the high cost. Officials with the Florence Sheriff’s Department testified that buying cameras would cost the department more than $300,000 to cover all 234 deputies.

And that did not include the cost of storing data, which could be as much as $100,000 a year for the department. Storage expenses already are running into millions of dollars in some larger cities.

Data collected on body cams would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, which raises questions about how it could be viewed. For example, if an embarrassing DUI arrest is captured by an officer’s body cam, could that video then be accessed by a private citizen and run on the Web where anyone could see it?

This technology – for now at least – is a costly investment. Nonetheless, we think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Dash cams – the dashboard cameras that now are standard equipment in most patrol cars – already have proven their value. They can record everything from a high-speed chase to a routine traffic stop, including how officers treat suspects.

Body cams do the same thing but with much more flexibility to capture what happens. As advocates of the cameras note, this not only helps police make their cases, it also can help curb police brutality.

In fact, the experience of some police departments suggests that police and suspects alike behave better when they know they are being recorded on a body cam.

No technology is foolproof. And different people can come away from viewing body-cam footage with entirely different impressions based on their own perspectives and biases.

But, however people choose to interpret it, the camera does represent an unbiased view of an incident. And that can be an invaluable tool in helping to determine whether a suspect acted in an unruly fashion or an officer overstepped his authority.

We suspect that the technology will improve and the cost will go down as time passes. And as law enforcement agencies get more accustomed to using the cameras, routine protocols for storing videos and making them public will be established.

Recording arrests and other interactions between police and the public seems almost certain to become a normal, accepted part of policing nationwide in the near future. It can only become more prevalent, especially with growing concerns about racial tensions between police and blacks.

South Carolina needs to get on board with this trend.

This story was originally published March 16, 2015 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Body cams would be valuable addition."