Police Say Body Cameras Give “Real Perspective” of What Cops Encounter

Michael Brown's family and supporters called for a law named after teen to require all police across the country to wear body cameras.

The family believes had Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson worn a body camera, the grand jury may have indicted him in the fatal shooting of the teen in Missouri.

"Michael Brown will not be remembered for the ashes of buildings burned in Ferguson, but for new legislation and the upholding of the new law that protects citizens," Rev. Al Sharpton said.

Here in the Bay Area, the Union City Police Department was one of the first agencies in Alameda County to require body cameras on all officers.

The cameras are turned on to record each encounter with a citizen, then downloaded at the end of each shift.

Union City police said the cameras do not lie and the video could protect them down the road.

"It doesn’t come to he said, she said," Lt. Travis Souza said. "We actually have a real perspective of what the officer had to deal with at the time."

Union City police have provided advice to the Oakland Police Department when they implemented body cameras.

Oakland officers are wearing the cameras as they try to deal with this week's protests over the Ferguson grand jury decision. Mayor Jean Quan said the cameras been also been instrumental in the department's relationship with the community.

"It has helped improve relationships between our police officers and our community," Quan said. "And so that is critically important."

NBC Bay Area legal analyst Steven Clark warns body cameras are not the answer to prevent a Ferguson-type shooting.

"If the police have the power to turn the camera on and off, they can essentially edit the tape to orchestrate an arrest to conform with the way they want it shown," he said.

Clark also notes a privacy issue with the body cameras.

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