Q&A
Council member inquires about body worn camera concerns
3:17:52
·
60 sec
Council Member Yousef Salaam asks Jermaine from OCL to elaborate on community concerns regarding body worn camera usage. Germain Thompson responds with specific examples of issues reported by community members.
- Community members often have to remind officers to activate their body worn cameras
- A specific incident in Brownsville was cited where NST officers approached individuals without activated cameras
- These issues are widespread and concerning for the community
Yousef Salaam
3:17:52
So I have I have a question.
3:17:54
Jermaine, you mentioned body worn camera activation as a community concern.
3:17:58
Can you say more about what OCL is hearing about body worn camera usage?
Germain Thompson
3:18:03
Yeah.
3:18:04
Sure.
3:18:04
So, so we receive a lot of feedback, in general, but we're around body worn cameras, we've seen videos of community members having to remind officers that their body worn cameras are not activated.
3:18:20
So, say for instance, I could I could cite our last report that we put out.
3:18:26
It was, a group of individuals in Brownsville in a night share housing.
3:18:31
They was out at night hanging around.
3:18:34
4 NST officers approached them.
3:18:36
None of them had a body worn cameras on.
3:18:39
Community members start yelling, why y'all why y'all approaching us?
3:18:42
Why y'all surrounding us?
3:18:43
Please get your body worn cameras on.
3:18:45
So we see instances like that throughout the city, and that's why I chose to highlight that today because it's a concerning issue for community.
