The American Civil Liberties Union is questioning why officers did not turn on body cameras during a fatal shooting of an unarmed woman in Minneapolis on Saturday. They argue the footage could have captured what happened. Increasingly, police agencies are requiring officers to wear cameras while on duty.
Police have declined comment on the cameras, pending an investigation. The lack of video footage has led the mayor of Minneapolis to call for a probe, while the ACLU suggest the police violated policy by failing to switch on the camera. The body cameras worn by officers in Minneapolis are made by Scottsdale-based Axon, formerly Taser International. The technology has been adopted by police departments across the country since 2014 after a police shooting of a Missouri teenager sparked nationwide demonstrations.
Researchers say half of the 18,000 police departments nationwide have officers who wear them. The ACLU says that since 2014, at least 14 people have been killed nationwide by officers wearing cameras that were either not turned on or inoperative.
