Scores of Washington residents gathered at City Hall and packed the City Council chambers to voice their opposition to the mayor’s proposals for warrantless searches of ex-offenders and to equip police with body cameras whose footage would not be available to the public.
While many have applauded Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposal of body worn cameras (BWC), because they would record police encounters with residents.
People in Washington and across the nation have called for stronger measures to monitor police in the wake of a wave of videos showing of police-related deaths of unarmed black men and women, including one man being shot in back.
But residents expressed their concern when Councilmember Kenyan McDuffe announced that “the proposal also provided that no footage would be public.”
