Tuesday host Carousel Bayrd speaks with three guests about the use of police body cameras: Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, Madison Alder Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, and police law expert Seth Stoughton.
Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney supports the use of body cameras but has concerns over the privacy implications for police officers. Alder Shiva Bidar-Sielaff has concerns over the effectiveness of body cameras, and sponsored a successful motion to postpone funding for the body camera pilot program in Madison.
Seth Stoughton is Associate Professor in the School of Law at the University of South Carolina. He is a former police officer and an expert on police law, and his research probes the effectiveness of police body cameras. Stoughton supports the use of body cameras but says there are varying degrees of usefulness to them. According to Stoughton, the three distinct benefits to the use of body cameras are as a source of information, as a symbolic gesture towards a community, and as an impetus for behavioral change on the part of the wearer.
