Seattle may be one step ahead of the national curve when it comes to outfitting its police with body cameras.
According to this report by USA Today, in a speech at Columbia University, Hillary Clinton said that all police departments should be outfitted with body cameras to “improve transparency and accountability.” She also cited the “deaths of Walter Scott in South Carolina, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner in New York and, most recently, Freddie Gray in Baltimore” as evidence that more transparency is needed.
As we reported, the Seattle Police Department has already been testing a body-cam program and recently hired a programmer to help them post videos to YouTube to increase transparency. The Department hopes to have 900 officers outfitted with cameras by 2016.
The Obama administration has also requested $263 million in funding for cameras and training, which is still seeking congressional approval. If approved, that program would contribute $75 million over three years to match state funds for cameras by 50 percent, funding up to 50,000 cameras nationwide.
You can watch Clinton’s speech from the Columbia, courtesy of C-SPAN on YouTube, here: