The Police Conduct Oversight Commission enthusiastically endorsed a series of recommendations Tuesday night regarding the use of body-mounted cameras by Minneapolis police officers.
The oversight group voted unanimously in support of the report.
Police Chief Janeé Harteau, who has remained mostly quiet about the report, said Tuesday that her department would take the report's findings under consideration as it continues to craft its body camera policy.
The recommendations are considered nonbinding.
"I believe public input is an important part of the process as we work toward developing a body camera policy," Harteau said in a statement through a spokesman. "We will take the research and study into account while continuing to analyze dozens of other policies and national 'best practice' standards. Our goal is to put together a policy that works best for Minneapolis."
The report's key recommendations include: requiring patrol officers to activate their cameras during all service calls, law enforcement activities and any noncriminal encounters with a citizen, as long as they receive consent; and barring officers from editing or viewing body camera footage before writing their incident reports under most circumstances.
The police killings last year of several unarmed black men across the country intensified the campaign to make body cameras mandatory. In Minnesota, at least 41 law enforcement agencies have adopted the devices, though research findings on their effectiveness in keeping both police and the public on their best behavior has been mixed.
Among the tricky issues the department will have to grapple with, one is whether the footage should be released under the state's public information act, with opponents contending that doing so could infringe on privacy or victims' rights.
