Police body cam initiative launched in Tel Aviv region
12,000 officers to be provided with cameras when countrywide project is complete, police minister says; plan will include Border Police, special patrol units
The Israel Police in the Tel Aviv region on Sunday inaugurated a new body-worn camera initiative with which it hopes to gain an increase in public trust, as thousands of officers begin to carry the devices.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said at a ceremony to officially launch the project that it was particularly important to gain the confidence of Israelis of Ethiopian extraction, who have for years complained bitterly at what they see as unfair police treatment.
The body cam launch came two days after Yehuda Biadga, a young man of Ethiopian descent, was shot dead in the coastal town of Bat Yam south of Tel Aviv after he ran toward an officer with a knife, police said.
Erdan described the use of the cameras as “historic and groundbreaking” and said one of the project’s aims would be to help foster better ties with the Ethiopian community.
“Improving ties between the police and the Ethiopian community was a central driver in implementing the project and I am certain that it will bring a huge change in ties and in public trust in the police,” he said.
Some 12,000 officers in total will be issued with the cameras over the next two years, an increase from the initially planned 8,000 — now including Border Police and special patrol units, known by the Hebrew acronym “Yasam.”
“This development will help increase the transparency of police activities and help to strengthen public faith in the police,” a police statement said last year when the initiative was announced. “Body cameras are a significant tool in the transparency of police activity, and in restraining all those involved in police encounters with civilians.”
Erdan and former police chief Roni Alsheich initiated the drive to introduce body cams in 2016, less than a year after footage of police beating up an Ethiopian soldier, apparently unprovoked, sparked mass demonstrations nationwide against police brutality and alleged systemic racism.
An initial pilot program that ended in January 2017 found that the devices helped reduce instances of police aggression and led to increased public trust toward policing. Stations where personnel used the cams recorded a 35 percent drop in complaints against officers, the police said.
Despite the largely positive feedback from police and citizens, the pilot program raised a number of concerns among legal sources, namely how to treat evidence gathered by the cameras and in what instances officers should turn them off, the Haaretz daily reported last month. Furthermore, police in a number of cases were able to view the footage before it was turned in for evidence, potentially compromising any internal investigation against them, the report said.
