PROVIDENCE – The Providence Police Department will begin using body-worn cameras for all officers on patrol, the department announced Wednesday.
Officers will be training with the cameras throughout the month of October, and the cameras should be operational in eight to 12 weeks.
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The cameras that the PPD will use are Axon 2 body-worn cameras. The devices will sit square on the officers’ chests.
“Body-worn cameras are an innovative tool that will enhance the community policing done in Providence,” said Mayor Jorge O. Elorza. “By becoming one of the first police departments in the region to implement them, we are ahead of the curve and once again leading the way in innovative policing.”
Requests for video related to police interaction will be screened within the perimeters of the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act.
More on the body camera program policy can be found here. The policy makes clear when the cameras are to be put into use:
- Enforcement encounters with a reasonable suspicion that a person has committed or is committing a criminal act.
- Enforcement encounters when a person is deemed to be committing a summonsable violation.
- When initiating or conducting a vehicle pursuit.
- When conducting all vehicle and pedestrian stops.
- When taking or attempting to take a person into custody (this could be for an arrest as well as taking into custody people involved in a protective custody situation).
- All incidents involving reportable use of force.
- Any interaction that escalates and becomes adversarial.
- Building searches related to investigatory purposes.
- Whenever the officer judges that it would be beneficial to record an incident, with a series of exceptions, including non-official activities, where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy and whenever dealing with victims of sex crimes or child abuse, among others.
