Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced on Thursday that the NYPD will begin testing out body cameras in the coming months, putting it on track to become the largest police force using the technology in the country. According to The Wall Street Journal, about 60 officers in six precincts — one in each borough and one public-housing project — will take part in the pilot program. They’ll test two commonly used cameras: the Vievu, which looks like a pager and is worn on an officer’s shirt, and the Taser, which can be placed on an officer’s ear, glasses, collar, or shoulder. Putting cameras on police officers has become a hot topic in the wake of Ferguson, but the program actually stems from the NYPD’s own civil rights controversy. Last year U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered the NYPD to start using the cameras when she ruled that stop-and-frisk is unconstitutional.
