New York City police are equipped with body cameras that capture footage of their interactions with the public. They are required to record specific events with these cameras, including "all interactions with people suspected of criminal activity," which includes any interaction involving the use of force. 

Mayor-at-the-time Bill de Blasio spearheaded a movement in 2020 to require the police department to release body camera footage within 30 days of its recording. "Body-worn cameras are only as powerful as the transparency that comes with them. This is a good thing for everyone involved. When people see this kind of transparency, it will build trust."

NYPD first began deploying police #bodycameras in 2017 to provide accurate depictions of events as they transpired. Eyewitness testimonies are considered notoriously unreliable as an investigative technique, since people's perceptions can be distorted by fight-or-flight responses and the passage of time. 

Body cameras record the actual occurrences without discretion. The NYPD currently utilizes some 24,000 #bodycameras, providing them to officers, detectives, sergeants, and lieutenants regularly assigned patrol duties. Their department's body camera program is the largest in the United States. 

Before 2020's decision that NYPD must release footage from body cameras, it said the footage would only be made public on a case-by-case basis if the police commissioner found it would address a specific "public concern" and "preserve peace."

Some believe that the NYPD should have sole discretion over the editing and publishing of body camera footage. They say that releasing it to the public would put officers in danger by compromising their authority.

Others believe that the footage should either be reviewed by a third party who would make any necessary redactions or released in its entirety. They argue that if the police department did the editing, they could simply delete any footage that made their officers look bad.

The question up for debate: Should the NYPD control the editing of #police #bodycamera footage?