After a string of incidents last fall, involving the arrests of civilians who used their phones to film police,Memphis United successfully pressured MPD to release a policy confirming Memphians’ right to film officers. While we encourage all civilians to exercise this right, it is also apparent that there are situations where an added layer of accountability is needed.
Over the past several months, many cities have instituted body cameras on officers, not only to protect the accused, but also to protect police. “When the entire incident is caught on video, there is less uncertainly about what actually transpired,” said one local organizer with Memphis United.
Following the tragic death of Michael Brown, the Ferguson Police Department was swift in purchasing body cameras for their officers as away to restore some of the battered trust that officers had nothing to hide from the public. Memphis United has been actively pushing for the use ‘lapel cameras’ to be instituted by MPD for use by officers. Recently, Councilman Shea Flinn inquired about how much these cameras would actually cost the City. Wharton has said he supports the use of lapel cameras, however he as proposed the use of cameras in police cruisers as opposed to on the officers themselves. The projected total cost of cameras in cruisers is said to be twenty million dollars.
Councilman Harold Collins responded to Councilman Flinn’s inquiry, stating that cost of lapel cameras for individual officers would only cost around two hundred dollars a unit. According to Collins, the price tag for two thousand cameras would cost less than one millions. Memphis United projects the cost for the cited 2,450 MPD officers, to be as low as $500,000 and supports using the savings to cover the cost of technical support and programming for the cameras. Additionally, The City of Memphis would stand to save even more on costly lawsuits and investigations of officer misconduct, that have been curbed by the institution of body cameras in other major cities.
This week, Memphis United needs YOU to strike while the iron is hot! We are asking that all Memphis United supporters and allies make the call to Mayor Wharton’s office and to your elected City Council representatives, and urge them to support the implementation of lapel-mounted body cameras for surveillance of all interactions with MPD officers. Encourage them to support the purchase of body cameras over the costly and less transparent use of dash cameras limited to squad cars. Remind them that the price of doing otherwise will cost the city millions of dollars and unmeasured damage in public confidence.
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The Mayor’s Office
Mayor AC Wharton
(901) 636-6000
City Council
Find Your District: http://www.shelbyvote.com/index.aspx?NID=122
Bill Morrison, District 1
(901) 636-6786
Bill.Morrison@memphistn.gov
William C. Boyd, District 2
(901) 636-6786
bill.boyd@memphistn.gov
Harold B. Collins, District 3
(901) 636-6786
– or –
P.O. Box 301132
Memphis, TN 38130
(901) 545-5987 office
(901) 332-3691
Harold.Collins@memphistn.gov
Wanda Halbert, District 4
(901) 636-6786
Wanda.Halbert@memphistn.gov
Chairman Jim Strickland, District 5
(901) 636-6786
Jim.Strickland@memphistn.gov
Edmund Ford, Jr., Ed.D, District 6
(901) 636-6786
Edmund.Fordjr@memphistn.gov
Lee Harris, District 7
(901) 636-7010
Lee.Harris@memphistn.gov
Joe Brown, Super District 8, Position 1
1384 Jackson
Memphis TN 38107
(901) 274-4724
Joe.Brown@memphistn.gov
Janis Fullilove, District 8, Position 2
(901) 636-6786
Janis.Fullilove@memphistn.gov
Vice Chairman, Myron Lowery, District 8, Position 3
(901) 636-7016
(901) 828-4810
Myron.Lowery@memphistn.gov
Kemp Conrad, Super District 9, Position 1
(901) 636-6786
Fax (901) 636-6796
Kemp.Conrad@memphistn.gov
Shea Flinn, Super District 9, Position 1
(901) 636-6786
Fax (901) 636-6796
Shea.Flinn@memphistn.gov
Reid Hedgepeth, Super District 9, Position 3
(901) 636-6786
Fax (901) 636-6796
Reid.Hedgepeth@memphistn.gov