Chief McClelland: regarding body cameras, it is a new concept but not with HPD. We have had body cameras for over a year. That decision was made a long time ago to implement them. It is technology that gets outdated very quickly.
The international association chief's of police have developed a model policy and have combined that into our policies. There has to be training. Battery life won't allow for the camera to be "turned off." Some situations it is not proper to record, sexual assault suspects, juveniles, etc. There are times when the camera has to be off, but not when they are engaging in police activity.
Everyone has biases. We can't do anything about that because it is a part of where we come from. Our training is situational. What kind of behavior is the person engaging in? We try to eliminate stereotypes.
