JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Emotional testimony from the family of Michael Brown highlighted a hearing in which Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, offered legislation to the Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee that would mandate the use of body cams by police officers in cities with populations over 100,000, namely St. Louis, Kansas City, Independence, Springfield, and Columbia.
Cops would only need to use the cameras while on duty and in uniform, meaning undercover cops and desk officers would not have to use cameras.
Nasheed said the bill would instill a sense of transparency between police and communities and cited examples where body cameras had produced positive benefits.
“My bill will support accountability for both law enforcement as well as civilians,” Nasheed testified. “Communities with body cameras have seen a drastic reduction in complaints.”
“Case in point, in Pittsburgh alone, complaints against police officers dropped approximately 74 percent after introducing body cameras to their force. In San Diego, the use of force incidents decreased by 47 percent in the 14 months after launching body cameras there.”
The senator added she was committed to get the legislation correct to get past concerns some members of the committee may have when it comes to privacy concerns.
Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown whose death at the hands of a police officer set off the Ferguson protests of 2014, also spoke to the committee, detailing that body cameras could have shown the undeniable fact of what happened that day.
“It has been 557 days, and I’m still left with the mystery of what happened to my son that night,” she said. “I still do not have closure.”
Brown’s cousin, Eric Davis, said measures like body cameras would help, but he also called for additional steps outside the legislation, such as independent investigators in cases of possible police misconduct, including police shootings.
“We are not anti-police,” he said. “We want to have transparency when it comes to policing in our communities.”
