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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Body Camera Policy Gives Phoenix Police Unfair Advantage

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Tuesday, November 10, 2015   

PHOENIX – According to a new report released Monday by a coalition of civil rights groups called The Leadership Conference, the Phoenix Police Department shouldn't let officers review footage from their body cameras before they write incident reports.

The report, compiled by the Washington, D.C. consulting firm Upturn, scores 25 municipal police departments – including Phoenix.

Report co-author Harlan Yu, a principal with Upturn, says the report also details how transparent and fair police department policies are, and whether they respect the privacy of citizens.

"In order for cameras to live up to their promise," he says, "departments must have carefully crafted policies in place to guide the use of these cameras and the footage that they produce."

The report says the Phoenix Police Department could improve its body-camera policy by making camera footage available online, limiting the use of facial-recognition software, and specifying exactly when officers can and cannot turn the cameras off.

Yu also says the policy of letting police officers review their own body-camera footage before they write a report gives them an unfair advantage. He says criminal defendants don't get to check footage of an incident prior to giving a statement.

"Pre-report viewing creates an uneven playing field," says Yu. "In the worst case, an officer could conform his or her report to match only what was shown in the video, rather than report an independent account of what he or she saw."

The Phoenix Police Department did not immediately respond to calls for comment. The department began using body cameras in 2013, and now has 145 cameras deployed.


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