LAPD Orders Body Cam-Activating Tasers In Effort To Document Incidents

Wow…accountable police?

LAPD Orders Body Cam-Activating Tasers In Effort To Document Incidents

In an effort to increase transparency in the current climate of police mistrust, the LAPD is implementing a new documentation method — recording police activity via body cams the moment they turn the safety off on their tasers. Via RawStory:

Los Angeles police on Tuesday ordered Tasers that, when used, automatically activate cameras on officers’ uniforms, which will create visual records of incidents at a time of mounting concern about excessive force by U.S. law enforcement officers.

The 3,000 new digital Taser X26P weapons record the date, time and duration of firing, and whether Taser wires actually strike suspects and how long the thousands of volts of electricity pulse through them.

“This technology gives a much better picture of what happens in the field,” said Steve Tuttle, spokesman for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser International Inc.

At a time of nationwide protests over officer killings of unarmed black men, supporters of the new technology say cameras can help resolve officer misconduct cases when there is conflicting evidence.

The weapons ordered by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) will be linked via Bluetooth Technology to Taser International’s body cameras, turning on the camera the second the Taser’s safety switch is thrown.

In December, L.A. officials announced a plan to equip 7,000 street cops with Taser’s body cameras. With nearly 10,000 officers, the LAPD is the third-largest municipal U.S. police department, after New York City and Chicago.

Definitely a step in the right direction! But what does this do about them firing off their GUNS?