GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials say body-mounted cameras for police officers in its law enforcement branch were a good investment.
Officers like wearing the devices, called Vidmics, because they assure police an accurate depiction of interactions with citizens, Major Stephen Adams told the Gainesville Times.
"It provides a good tool to reduce complaints from the public, to protect the officer and to protect the public," Adams said. "There's no recounting what happened -- you watch the complaint."
The devices can guard the public from abusive police practices while protecting officers from false accusations, said staff attorney for the Georgia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, Chad Brock. The ACLU supports the use of the devices with proper safeguards, he said.
"There shouldn't be a policy where the officer can selectively turn off the recording. We would want to get a full picture, in guarding against abusive processes," Brock said.
The department has about 150 Vidmics and officers aren't required to tell citizens they're talking to that they're being recorded, Adams said. In accordance with state guidelines, he added that the Department of Natural Resources keeps the footage on file for five years.
The ACLU would like to see the data storage policies tweaked, Brock said.
"We would want to see data retention policies that require police to destroy any of the video surveillance within a reasonable time for a routine encounter -- three days to two weeks -- unless there was a reason for it to be flagged," Brock said, adding that a violent exchange that led to an arrest could be a reason to keep the video on file.