U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said it expects every officer and agent to be equipped with a body camera by the end of the month.
According to a statement released by the agency on Saturday, it is "on track to equip every officer and agent in the field with body-worn cameras by the end of August." They added that this is ahead of the agency's original timeline.
The statement was released in response to a recent AP report in which they stated that the "agency’s policy gives it broad control over what footage will be made public by specifying any releases must be in its 'best interests.'"
This comes after multiple incidents of deadly shootings this year involving ICE agents who were not wearing body cameras.
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According to Acting Director David J. Venturella, AP “mischaracterized” the policy and said they "conflated" expedited relase of footage following "serious bodily injury or death in custody with ICE’s broader authority to release body-worn camera footage."
In his statement, Acting Director Venturella said "ICE policy permits expedited release when appropriate," and "clarifies" when its not appropriate when this could compromise investigations.
The full ICE statement can be read below.
“It’s disappointing, though not surprising, to see yet another misleading and sensationalized Associated Press report about ICE operations and policy. The AP fundamentally mischaracterized ICE’s body-worn camera policy by conflating the expedited release of footage following a serious bodily injury or death in custody with ICE’s broader authority to release body-worn camera footage. Those are distinct issues, and here is the truth: ICE policy permits expedited release when appropriate — and clarifies that it’s not appropriate to release footage when doing so could compromise investigations or privacy. This approach mirrors other federal law enforcement agencies’ policies and is fully consistent with the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act. At the same time, we’re committed to transparency and accountability, and we’re on track to equip every officer and agent in the field with body-worn cameras by the end of August, ahead of our original timeline.”
