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State lawmakers aim to require police bodycams

Fatal gunfire at an Atlanta protest site fuels call for a mandate.

ATLANTA — Democrats met at lunchtime Monday to discuss how they may try to attack the subject of police reform – and to game plan how to get Republicans on board.

Democrats said they’d like to see state law require all uniformed law enforcement personnel to wear body cameras, which "seems to have some bipartisan support," said state Rep. Sam Park (D-Lawrenceville), the House Democratic whip.

Democrats pointed to the shooting death of a protester at the future Atlanta law enforcement training center site earlier this month.  Investigators said Manuel Estaban Paez Teran shot a Georgia State Patrol trooper.  When law enforcement fatally returned fire, authorities revealed afterward that the trooper was not wearing a body camera to document the exchange.

“Here in Georgia, we’ll always back the blue,” Republican Gov. Brian Kemp told lawmakers last week, turning the unrest over the law enforcement academy into an applause line in his 2023 State of the State speech. Republicans across the state echoed the line during the 2022 election.

State Rep. Bill Hitchens (R-Rincon), a former Georgia state patrol commander, told 11Alive he likes the concept of body cameras on law enforcement personnel.  But he’s wary of a law requiring it because of the cost to taxpayers, and because the footage can expose police tactics.

"I’m pretty skittish about making it public," Hitchens said, "because it lets people who may be adverse to you know what you’re going to do." 

However, Democrats said any absence of body cameras undermines public confidence in how police perform under pressure.

"To protect the public as well as law enforcement I think body cameras provide an objective measure by which people can understand and ensure that there is that accountability and trust," Park said.  He said it also helps change the culture of policing.

While some activists have called for additional reforms, Park says the body cam measure has the best chance of winning Republican support. 

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