Delaware lawmakers look to require police body cameras

DOVER — Legislation filed Thursday would require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and would establish a uniform policy for their use.

House Bill 195 would mandate police and certain employees of the Department of Correction and the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families keep a body-worn camera on them to record interactions with members of the public. The measure also would direct the Council on Police Training to create regulations and standards for the use of body-worn cameras by all law enforcement officers in the state.

The change was formally identified by the Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force, a body formed by the legislature in June to consider police reform, as an area for improvement last week.

“Body-worn cameras have the ability to be a game-changer in police-community relations,” Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, D-Wilmington, said in a statement. “They greatly improve transparency and accountability while providing increased protection for both the police and the community. This is why in speaking with various police agencies, it is evident officers want body cameras as much as the public.

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