Police not tracking body camera use per council directive

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minneapolis Police Department isn’t tracking whether all its officers are routinely activating their body cameras, despite a directive to do so following the fatal police shooting of an Australian woman.

Two officers failed to record their encounter with Justine Ruszcyk Damond in July. She’d summoned police to investigate a possible sexual assault near her home when one of the responding officers fatally shot her.

In October, the Minneapolis City Council instructed police to report quarterly on how often body cameras are activated when required.

The Star Tribune reports that Deputy Chief Henry Halvorson told the council last week that the reporting requirement is too labour intensive, but his department would analyze 2 per cent of the officers’ usage.

Halvorson also says the office tasked with reviewing body camera footage hasn’t been fully staffed.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com