September 15, 2014. Columbia, SC. WIS TV. By Mike DeSumma. For police agencies already using body cameras, many believe in the benefit of having a way to capture what happens in real time.
"You know, we feel pretty good about the cameras," Sgt. Tony Kennedy of the Benedict Police Department said.
The Benedict Police Department recently upgraded to better, more high-resolution body cameras in the last two months. Kennedy says they've helped with officer training and provided a better means for providing accountability with the public.
"I would rather be recording everything than not recording nothing," Kennedy said.
Benedict's department isn't the only one intrigued by the device. Police departments in Columbia and Charleston have also begun looking at using body cameras.
"We think they can be a really positive tool in ensuring public safety," Victoria Middleton of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina said.
However, the concern for some liberty groups lies within regulation. Currently, there aren't any universal standards for how police agencies use body cameras.
The ACLU of South Carolina believes, if more departments decide to use the cameras going forward, oversight of public leaders needs to be key.
"To ensure that they won't be tampered with," Middleton said, "that there won't be inappropriate access and, conversely, that the citizen who feels that she or he has been improperly treated by law enforcement can have access to that video as a documentary record."
Where ever they're used, all sides will have a stake in what these cameras pick up.
