City of Kirkland issued the following announcement on Mar. 2.
The City of Kirkland invites the community to discuss a potential Kirkland Police Department body-worn camera program during a meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 6 p.m. via Zoom. The City Council intends to implement a body-worn camera program in order to increase both community and officer safety. A body-worn camera program may also increase police accountability and transparency. The Council would like to hear from the community on policies and other considerations before making the decision to proceed. To register for this meeting, please visit www.kirklandwa.gov/BodyWornCameras.
“Research has shown that body-worn cameras can lead to reductions in use-of-force incidents and may encourage officers and community members to maintain a higher standard of behavior during an incident,” said Councilmember Neal Black. “It’s important that, as a community, we carefully consider all of the potential benefits and drawbacks of a body-worn camera program. Your input is critical and will directly influence how such a program might be shaped to work best for Kirkland.”
In addition to exploring the benefits, opportunities, costs, and concerns of a body-worn camera program, the community engagement process will also explore policy considerations. Some of the considerations to be discussed include who within the Kirkland Police Department should wear body-worn cameras, when recording with the cameras should occur, if and when recordings should be stopped, and under what circumstances the footage should be shared. Community input is essential for developing policies for Kirkland that balance privacy and the public’s right to know.
The City began discussions about body-worn cameras in 2014. However, experience, best practices, and the legal environment concerning body-worn cameras were underdeveloped and not well defined at that time. On August 8, 2020, the Council adopted Resolution 5434 to improve the safety and respect of Black people, which included a goal of developing a police body camera pilot program. The topic of body-worn cameras was included as part of the R-5434 community engagement process of late 2020 and early 2021. In December 2021, the City of Kirkland was notified that it was awarded a grant by the U.S Department of Justice toward a body-worn camera program should the City decide to move forward with such a program. A decision of whether to implement body-worn cameras is anticipated in May 2022, after the community engagement process.
For more information, to register for the meeting, and for additional ways to provide feedback, please visit www.kirklandwa.gov/BodyWornCameras.
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