SEATTLE — Seattle's plan for police body cameras were almost scrapped, just as citizens are demanding more police accountability.
The plan to eventually equip every Seattle officer with a body camera was almost just scrapped because a local computer programmer demanded every bit of video under the state's Public Disclosure law. He was planning to put it on his YouTube web site.
“We had to obviously weigh the financial cost,” said Mike Wagers, Seattle police CEO. “We're spending taxpayer dollars, the burden of producing the body-worn camera video.”
Instead of fighting, Wagers reached out on Twitter to ask for the programmer’s help, but only if he would drop his costly video demands.
Now the programmer is volunteering to help police find a way to manage their video requests.
We agreed not to show his face and he didn't reveal his name.
“They were not prepared for this,” the programmer said
He told us his massive requests were designed to get police departments thinking more deeply about the privacy challenges of body cam video.
“That should have happened on minute one.”
Police insisted on being anonymous, because while he believes government should be transparent, he believes the citizens who interact with it should maintain their privacy.
For now, privacy remains at risk.
“Until laws change or what not, agencies are stuck with the current reality and they need to have the best technology and policy to deal with it,” the programmer said.
KIRO
