NORFOLK, Va. – Police in Hampton Roads are spending thousands of your tax dollars on body cameras. But are you getting your money’s worth? Are the cameras being used to their full potential?
When we look at the numbers, there are several cases where body cameras are not turned on in Hampton Roads.
Newport News Police said internal affairs investigated when officers have discharged their weapons 15 times since 2013. They say body cameras were activated in only three of those cases.
Norfolk Police said they recently added 130 more body cameras to the 300 that they started with in February 2015 and said officers are still getting used to turning them on.
Every department is different, but most law enforcement agencies in our region require body cameras to be turned on when officers are interacting with the public to protect the officers and provide evidence for their cases.
Some departments, like Virginia Beach Police and Virginia State Police, do not have body cameras.
Tune in Tuesday to NewsChannel 3 at 11 for our full investigation into which local law enforcement agencies have body cameras and how they are being used.
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