Commission on police body cam regs to meet after missed deadline

A legislative commission studying widespread use of police body cameras meets Tuesday — months after it missed a deadline to file a report called for in the one-year-old reform law that created the study group.

“In light of the compressed schedule caused by the delayed convening of the members, the Taskforce does not presently have work product in the form of draft recommended regulations or proposed legislation to provide in this report,” task force chair Angela Davis wrote in a Dec. 22 letter to Sen. Walter Timilty, D-Milton, and Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield, the co-chairs of the state Legislature’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.

The law, signed by Gov. Charlie Baker in December 2020, requires the commission to propose regulations governing standards for the procurement of body and dashboard cameras used by police to provide consistency throughout the state, and to propose minimum requirements for the storage and transfer of audio and video recordings collected by body-worn cameras.

The report was due July 31.

The 25-member task force didn’t even hold its first meeting until after the reporting deadline on Sept. 14.

Davis, the state’s assistant undersecretary for law enforcement and criminal justice, said in her letter that the task force has been “hard at work” since convening and intends to develop a draft of the recommended regulations “by early” this year and make them available for public input during the remaining public hearing time frame.

According to minutes from the task force’s Oct. 26 meeting, Davis described a January to April timeline for drafting a report but some task force members called that “aggressive” and “unrealistic.”

A Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association poll indicated three-quarters of police departments in major cities and smaller communities are interested in starting a camera program. But state officials estimate that just 10% of city and town police departments across the state outfit officers with body cameras.

A state-led program designed to boost the number of body cameras used by law enforcement agencies made its first grant payout last week, Baker’s office announced.

The first round will provide more than $4 million in grants to 64 communities to purchase the technology.

Baker, a Republican, said body cameras “improve public safety, strengthen community-police relations, and enhance the values of transparency and accountability.”

“This technology offers municipalities a valuable tool in support of municipal police in their efforts to ensure public safety and transparency in their communities,” the governor said.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.