Posted: | April 15, 2021 01:00 PM |
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From: | Representative Stephen Kinsey and Rep. Amen Brown, Rep. Brian Kirkland |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Greater Transparency for PA Law Enforcement: Body-Cameras |
While an increasing number of Pennsylvania’s law enforcement agencies are voluntarily adopting policies to outfit their officers with body-worn camera technology, there are many other important aspects of this technology that need to be comprehensively considered, particularly when it comes to the question of departmental protocols governing general usage, access, retention, and the redaction of recordings. In an effort to provide the public with much needed clarity and transparency about departmental policies relating to the use of body-worn cameras, our legislation proposes the following:
To be clear, in recognition of the fact that there are more than 1,100 police departments in Pennsylvania, our legislation does not mandate a uniform set of policies. It instead simply requires that our law enforcement agencies develop their own custom-made policies and that they make the details of said policies available to the general public. Therefore, if you value the importance of providing our law enforcement officials with an additional tool to fight crime while simultaneously providing a greater sense of transparency to the general public, we urge you to please join us as a co-sponsor of this truly worthwhile and common-sense initiative. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT, WHEN INTRODUCED IN PREVIOUS SESSIONS, THIS MEASURE HAD THE SUPPORT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE, THE PENNSYLVANIA CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION, THE PENNSYLVANIA DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION, AND THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE. |
Introduced as HB1781