The NYPD must now publicly release body-worn camera videos in the wake of all high-profile incidents, under reforms announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday.
“When people see this kind of transparency, it will build trust, there is much more to come in the weeks ahead,” de Blasio said.
The mayor’s new directive expands the current department policy, which was issued last October. The new guidelines compel the police to release all recordings from department-involved shootings, even if no one was injured, and any time a cop deploys their Taser that causes “great bodily harm” or death.
“When one of these three criteria are met, it is crucial that the information comes out promptly and have faith it will come out objectively,” the mayor added. “That creates trust.”
The NYPD already had a policy in place to make any footage public within 30 days of “critical” incidents in which a person was seriously injured or killed during a police encounter or when the police commissioner felt it was needed to “address vast public attention, or concern, or will help enforce the law, preserve peace, and/or maintain public order,” according to the police.
But city lawmakers have said the policy didn’t go far enough and criticized the releases for their subjective edits.
“Previously, disclosure was solely at the discretion of the commissioner and for very narrow purposes,” the mayor said, adding that the NYPD’s policy did not make the release mandatory.
The footage will be posted online within 30 days of the encounter — after first being made available to the family of those involved, according to the policy. It was unclear if the mayor’s policy would require the NYPD to release the unedited versions of the recordings.
The NYPD has roughly 24,000 body-worn cameras, one for each beat cop in the city.
“This new policy is in line with the vigorous reform agenda the NYPD has been propelling for more than six years,” said Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. “All officers are now equipped with body-worn-cameras, which provide a record of encounters between our officers and the New Yorkers we serve.”
