Syracuse Common Councilors are considering the idea of allowing code enforcement officers to use body worn cameras, but at first blush, they’re not thrilled with the idea.
It’s something more cities across the country are doing: arming code officers with body-worn cameras to document code violations and encounters with citizens. The city’s proposal says the body cameras are needed for safety and transparency reasons.
City Deputy Commissioner of Code Enforcement and Zoning Administration Jake Dishaw told the Common Council’s Neighborhood and Preservation Committee Tuesday that safety for inspectors is his number one issue.
“Years ago when I was an inspector, I had a handgun pulled on me while doing an inspection,” said Dishaw. “Definitely unsettling, something that never happened to me before in any other setting. But we've had a code official recently, within the last couple of years, had an attempted carjacking. So there's definitely some safety concerns."
Dishaw says cameras would also add a layer of transparency and accountability to officers who are generally alone, and driving their own vehicles to a call.
Common Councilor Corey Williams isn’t thrilled with the idea and is concerned about the constitutional and privacy rights of citizens.
"Your staff are alone, have their own car, small ID badge,” said Williams. “You don't know where people are, and they walk into potentially dangerous situations. None of those, to me, necessarily rise to the level of potential infringement upon people's Fourth Amendment right, or an increased level of governmental surveillance.”
Other lawmakers wanted to know whether any footage from the cameras could be used in police investigations and whether residents or businesses could ask that cameras be turned off.
The city is asking for $50,000 to start, with a yearly cost of $25,000 to maintain the program. But Williams still has concerns.
"There are ways that we can get to additional safety for your team, that might not involve a higher level of surveillance,” he said.
To answer these and other issues, city officials will put together a specific policy that, among other things, would address the legal and privacy issues.
