FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BOSTON POLICE CAMERA ACTION TEAM RELEASES PROPOSED RULES AND
PROCEDURES FOR USE OF BODY CAMERAS BY BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT (Boston, MA) – On Monday, January 5, 2015, the Boston Police Camera Action Team, also known as BPCAT, released its proposed rules and procedures for the Boston Police Department regulating the use of body cameras via its website (www.bpcat.org) under the “Reports and Studies” tab. For several months, the group researched the issue of placing body cameras on police officers along with existing policies from around the country. Together with various other local community groups, BPCAT’s Policy Team developed a set of guidelines they hope will be adopted by the Boston Police Department “Personally, I’m thrilled to be able to share our proposal with the wider public,” said co-‐organizer Shekia Scott. “To think that we just started this group in August and are at this juncture still amazes me. This would not have been possible without the sacrifice of so many committed people who love this city and who wanted to do more than say they were fed up, but take small steps toward making lasting change.” The report also seeks to answer several lingering questions and dispel any misconceptions regarding the use of body cameras. To date, many inquiries and expressions of concern have been made by both public officials and residents of Boston as to the effectiveness of the tools as well as the balance of privacy. The guidelines lay out in clear terms when an officer should use the device, the power of the citizen to obtain her/his recordings, consequences for improper use of the body camera, and other pertinent questions the community had. “We spent a lot of time looking into existing programs around the nation and met with community and privacy groups to take their concerns into consideration,” said Segun Idowu, the other co-‐organizer for BPCAT. “We incorporated those concerns as well as some other great suggestions from organizations we partnered with into this policy in order to create the most sensible and efficient set of procedures in the nation.” The co-‐organizers both expressed their desire to see Boston become one of the first major cities in the nation to outfit all of its officers with body cameras with strong, sensible policies in place to manage them and said they were looking forward to meeting with BPD officials in the coming days to discuss their proposal. ###