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CHARLOTTE, NC – Saturday nearly a hundred protestors staged a die-in at Romare-Bearden Park in Uptown. Many like Daniel Grisham say they’d like to see every CMPD officer outfitted with a body camera. “If I have a camera on, I’m going to think before I do something, because I know this is being recorded,” Grisham says.
City Council has set aside $250,000 in confiscated drug asset money for body cameras, while the Police Foundation is kicking in another $250,000. That’s only enough money though, to outfit 160 of the 1800 sworn CMPD officers, or about nine percent.
At a rally in Marshall Park, Kathryn Whitfield says body cameras would end the debate over what witnesses saw. “I think that it would help stop the polarization that’s happening with these issues. It’s kind of hard to argue when you see the actual video,” Whitfield says.
But others like Danielle Cloud have their doubts. “They can help. They may not help,” Cloud says.
She says seeing the video of Eric Garner’s death in New York proves spending the money for body cameras might not solve the issue. “You still don’t have police officers indicted, with the proof right there,” she says.
