Dem pushes WH for body camera funds

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) is urging the Obama administration to include a funding request for law enforcement agencies to obtain body cameras in his upcoming budget.

In a letter Monday, Cleaver asked President Obama to resubmit the administration’s request from the last Congress for those resources in fiscal 2016.

“Please consider the inclusion of funding for body cameras and community policing in the Department of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program for Fiscal Year 2016 budget,” he wrote. “This funding would help increase transparency and accountability for both law enforcement and the public and promote safer communities.” 

{mosads}Obama is expected to unveil his next budget on Feb. 2.

Cleaver said the events in Ferguson, Mo., should not be repeated and argued that body cameras could make a difference.

“We can work to do this by giving our local police officers the best tools and training available to protect and serve our communities,” he said.

In December, Cleaver introduced the Camera Authorization and Maintenance Act to encourage law enforcement agencies to use body cameras.

The bill would require local and state law enforcement agencies that receive Department of Justice grants to ensure their officers wear body cameras. To help finance the cameras, the bill would authorize a grant program for them.

At the end of December, Obama asked Congress to approve $263 million in funding for 50,000 body cameras and training for law enforcement for the rest of fiscal 2015. 

The $1.1 trillion spending bill Congress passed last month, however, didn’t specifically include new funding to provide law enforcement with those cameras. The package did provide funding for other related community policing programs.