Detroit, MI – On Saturday, April 18, the Detroit Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression held a rally at the corner of Clark Avenue and West Fisher Service Drive to demand that the Detroit City Council pass the People’s Bodycam Ordinance, a progressive city ordinance that would force the police to release body-worn camera footage from incidents of police violence. Banners were held by the road and over the highway overpass, with the slogans. “Stop protecting killer cops! Pass the People’s Bodycam Ordinance!” Protesters at the rally chanted, “When killer cops are on patrol, what’s the answer? Community control!”
Ten minutes into the rally, protesters were confronted by the Detroit Police Department, who insisted that the holding of a banner over the highway overpass was unlawful, and that several protesters would be issued citations for taking part in setting up the banner.
When pressed, none of the police officers were able to find the specific language stating that the display of a banner in such a fashion was illegal. Nevertheless, they stayed at the scene for 45 minutes, eventually confiscating the banner held on the overpass and informing protesters that they would be issued citations in the mail. During this time, the crowd continued chanting, this time directly at the police: “Biggest threat to the block? The chief and his racist cops!”
After an hour of chanting, Marcel Ulacia of DAARPR spoke about the People’s Bodycam Ordinance and its place in the larger struggle against police violence, stating, “This is year two of our struggle, and we’re in it for the long run. And it doesn’t end at our bodycam ordinance; our end goal is to fully establish community control of DPD and finally put them on the leash they’ve been needing since the founding of their institution.”
Kassandra Rodriguez from El Comité de Acción Comunitaria de Detroit told the crowd, “We will not stand aside while our city government surrenders our communities to ICE and police violence. Our city needs to serve us, and we, the people, should be the ones deciding how our communities get policed.”
Last to speak was Jacob Smith of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, who stated, “We need the People’s Bodycam Ordinance so that the public can make their own judgement calls on police conduct, and we need to establish community control of the police so we can properly discipline these rabid dogs when they step out of line!”
After the speeches, protesters continued chanting for an additional half hour in defiance of the repression enacted by the Detroit Police Department.
#DetroitMI #MI #InjusticeSystem #PoliceAccountability #Bodycam #DAARPR
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I’ve got no problem with this measure, but it doesn’t really address the real issue. Getting the video isn’t the problem. Ensuring the video exists is the problem. If the video is known to exist, it can be subpoenaed pretty easily if it is ever needed. But they constantly shut off their body cameras, or “lose” the files before they pull the worst of their illegal shit.
What is really needed is for the body camera to be used as their punch clock. They shouldn’t be getting paid unless their camera is running. They should be turning in 40 hours of video for 40 hours of pay. And when an hour suddenly goes missing while they are supposed to be on duty, the sudden absence of video becomes damning evidence when that hour coincides with an accusation of malfeasance.
Bodycam Punchclocks are what we need.