Williams presses for release of body cam footage
BY ALEX MITCHELL
Charging that “the need for greater
transparency is evident now more
than ever,” Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams told the City Council’s Public
Safety Committee Monday that they
should pass a bill mandating the public
release of NYPD body camera footage.
The committee is reviewing a bill
titled Intro. 1136-2018, which would not
only require the NYPD to submit quarterly
reports on the use of body cameras
by its officers, but also mandate the
annual publication of each instance in
which body cams are activated — specifically,
police-involved shootings or
other situations of conflict between
police and civilians.
“There has not been a discussion on
how to make those videos made available
to the public,” Williams said.
He said unedited police footage
should be released both to the public
and to family members of those involved
in police confrontations.
One example was a late September
incident in the Bronx that resulted in
the death of Police Officer Brian Mulkeen
and a suspect, Antonio Williams,
at a public housing complex. Williams
pointed out that five involved officers
had active body cameras, but none
that captured video has been released
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams called for passage of legislation that would
mandate the NYPD to speedily release police officers’ body cam footage to the
public. File photo
at this time — though police initially
pledged to do so “imminently.”
“Accountability and transparency
are at the heart of Intro 1136-2018,” Williams
said.
As far as the total amount of
NYPD collected body cam footage
goes, police estimate having nearly 8
million total body cam videos, many
of which are over eight minutes in
length. Roughly 130,000 of these videos
are uploaded to an police cloud
each week, and a number of those
clips are sent the Civilian Complaint
Review Board (CCRB) as well,
according to the NYPD.
“They’re probably our largest customer
by far,” NYPD Assistant Deputy
Commissioner of Legal Matters Oleg
Chernyavsky testified with regard to
videos shared with the CCRB.
As far as expanding interagency
video sharing, Williams also recommended
that the department begin
sharing footage with the CCRB and
district attorneys in a 24-hour timeframe,
while also reducing the amount
of time used to “disseminate footage to
the public.”
But Chernyavsky said the logistics
of such an operation might be difficult
for the NYPD. He claimed the department
would need to hire about 800
investigators, each at an estimated
$70,000 annual salary, just to watch the
130,000 weekly uploads.
Chernyavsky saying that the NYPD
is also obligated to “adequately assess
legal and privacy concerns” before releasing
body camera footage.
“This department should not be
placed in a position where we are left
questioning the CCRB about the evidence
they determine is relevant in
connection with their investigations,”
Chernyavsky said, noting that the
NYPD does not support the specific
bill at hand.
Even so, “We’re not opposed
to reporting on body camera footage,”
Chernyavsky added, commenting
that the NYPD is willing to work with
Williams and others on shaping new
transparency policies.
The committee has yet to schedule a
vote on the bill under consideration.
��������������������������������
����������������������������������
��������������������������������
������������������������������
������������������������
��������������������������������������������
�������������������� ��������������������������������������������������
TIMESLEDGER,QNS.COM NOV. 22-28, 2019 5
/TIMESLEDGER,QNS.COM
