Body Cameras And Law Enforcement: Technology, Transparency And Privacy

Vermont Public | By Nina Keck

Published September 28, 2016 at 12:00 PM EDT

An officer wearing a body camera. Vermont State Police don't have body cameras for all its troopers, though the agency says it wants them. VSP says it still needs to figure out the funding for the program before it can get cameras. — Police departments across the country are equipping officers with body cameras. We're talking about the issues raised by use of the technology.

Across the country and here in Vermont, police body cameras and the footage that they capture are spurring big debates: over transparency, privacy, the use of force and when and how footage should be released.

We’re talking about body cameras: their uses, limitations, and the issues the technology raises for law enforcement.

We're joined by Lia Ernst, staff attorney for the Vermont ACLU. Also by Lt. Garry Scott, commander of the Vermont State Police Williston barracks, who chaired the State Police's body camera pilot program. And by Stan Shernock, professor of criminal justice and director of the school of justice studies and sociology at Norwich University.

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Also on the program: fall is here, and winter is coming, time to clean the chimneys. We're talking to longtime chimney sweep David Kehoe about his work.

Broadcast live on Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.