Bergen County corrections officers to wear bodycams. Inmate privacy issue raised

HACKENSACK — A $500,000 purchase of body cameras will enhance safety for 80 corrections officers, as well as inmates, Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton said Monday.

While New Jersey uniformed patrol officers have been required to wear body cameras since June 2021, there is no state requirement for corrections officers to wear them, according to the Attorney General's Office. However, Cureton said the cameras will serve as "a training tool and reduce the amount of internal affairs investigation involving officers."

“People who know they are being observed and recorded on video tend to act better than those not under observation,” Cureton said. "In an effort to provide better accountability for everyone within the Bergen County Jail, body-worn cameras have been purchased to record incidents involving officers, staff, and inmates."

ACLU-NJ Legal Director Jeanne LoCicero cautioned Monday that “body-worn cameras used inside of correctional facilities raise significant privacy issues that are different than what police officers encounter on patrol and responding to calls."

"Sheriff Cureton and his team will need to work with stakeholders — including currently or formerly incarcerated people — to develop policies that appropriately balance transparency and accountability with the personal privacy and dignity of people incarcerated at the jail,” LoCicero said.

Jeff Carter, president of the Bergen County NAACP, called the purchase "an excellent thing."

"I think it adds a layer of security and would help the county with less litigation," Carter said. "But there's a Part 2 to that, and it's that the cameras have to be turned on."

STATE MANDATEMore types of New Jersey police officers must wear body cameras, attorney general says

A state law requiring all police departments to install either dashboard cameras or body cameras was declared unconstitutional in April 2016 because the state had failed to provide funds for the equipment.

Gov. Phil Murphy vetoed a bill requiring all uniformed patrol officers to wear body cameras for similar reasons in November 2020. The next month, however, Murphy signed a bill dedicating $58 million to buy the cameras, and police departments were given six months to gear up. The attorney general has since expanded the mandate to include SWAT teams, proactive enforcement groups and canine units.

In Bergen County, funding included $5.1 million for 2,510 cameras in 65 local departments, the Prosecutor's Office, the Sheriff's Office and the Palisades Parkway Police Department. In Passaic County, $2.9 million was designated to pay for 1,454 cameras for 17 agencies, including the county sheriff and the Prosecutor's Office.

However, demand and COVID-related delays resulted in an uneven start, and it is unclear how many of the state's 38,000 law enforcement officers now have the devices.

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Police reception was mixed. In June 2021, state lawmakers passed a bill that would allow officers and the arrest subjects to review bodycam footage before incident reports are written.

New legal issues were raised in June when the attorney for a Haledon man accused two Paterson police of not following attorney general guidelines on when and how long their cameras were activated during a February arrest.

Cureton said additional cameras will be purchased because of the agreement to receive Passaic County inmates.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen County NJ corrections officers to wear body cameras