DC Police Body Cameras Will Be Turned Off During the Inauguration Amidst Privacy Concerns

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By: Elias J. Atienza

Washington D.C police will have their body cameras turned off during the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, due to law and privacy concerns according to WRC-TV.

It is against the law to have police body cameras on when the police are just monitoring the expected protesters; however they can turn them on if something happens that requires a police response.

In addition to this, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a new app to help protesters and others report police in real time. Called the Mobile Justice App, they hope that the app will help keep tabs on police behavior.

“The more people who are watching, the less incidences of collisions between police and protesters,” Monica Hopkins-Maxwell of the District of Columbia’s ACLU told WRC-TV.

Hopkins-Maxwell said that the police shouldn’t be surveilling First Amendment activities.

Those cameras shouldn’t be on. The police shouldn’t be allowed to surveil First Amendment activity,” she told WRC-TV, and our concern is the availability of body cameras, what is done with that data, who looks at that data [and] what that data is used for.”

ACLU-trained marshals will also be monitoring police.

On top of this, the D.C government will be monitoring police. Michael Tobin, the executive director of the District’s Office of Police Complaints, will have mobile teams monitoring the police during the inauguration. The five mobile teams will be looking over parade routes and will be wearing distinct arm bands. They will also have audio and visual recording devices.

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