Top cop William Bratton unveiled Thursday two types of body cameras officers will start wearing in a pilot program that was ordered by a federal judge.
“The idea is the person understands they are being recorded and there is the ability to test the veracity through the use of the camera device,” said Bratton. “The camera is a significant enhancement to the ‘he said, she said’ scenario.”
One officer showed off the LE3, made by the Seattle-based company Vievu, and clipped it onto her tie.
Another cop wore the other model, called the Taser Axon Flex, on his glasses.
Both can record video and audio.
Video was also shown from a traffic stop.
Vievu has free cloud storage, while Taser lets users upload video to their website Evidence.com or download it onto their own data system.
A group of 60 volunteer cops will begin wearing them by the end of the year at six precincts.
The precincts chosen had the highest number of stop-and-frisks in 2012.
The Police Foundation has donated $ 60,000 to the pilot program.
Bratton said the NYPD will store video in the cloud or on-site, and added that it is extremely expensive to archive footage from cops’ cameras.
“This is an extraordinarily complex initiative,” said Commissioner Bratton, who has studied the use of cameras in other cities. “There’s policies here that have to be developed. One size does not fit all.”
Cops were ordered last year to start wearing video cameras in a pilot program in a federal class-action lawsuit against the NYPD’s use of stop-and-frisk.
Judge Shira Scheindlin said the city was liable for violating the rights of blacks and Latinos who said they were targeted for police stops because of their race.
Supporters say cameras can discourage police misconduct, as well as protect officers from bogus allegations.
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