Ferguson Cops Start Using Body Cameras in Wake of Unrest

Law enforcement officers in Ferguson, Mo. attached body cameras to their uniforms while policing a peaceful demonstration on Saturday, three weeks after the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer triggered violent clashes between police and protestors in the St. Louis suburb.

Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told the St. Louis Post—Dispatch that his department received a donation of 50 wearable cameras from two surveillance companies last week. The company representatives led the department in a training session on Saturday. “They are really enjoying them,” Jackson said of the body cameras, which captured video and audio recordings at a protest march on Saturday.

Advocates of a “Mike Brown Law,” named after the teenager who was shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, have petitioned for a law that would require police to wear body cameras at all times during their patrols to increase transparency.

Concerns about cost and a dearth of research into their effectiveness have hampered widespread adoption of the surveillance technique.

[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]