CITY OF YONKERS: City Council Municipal Operations and Public Safety Committee Meeting

PRESS RELEASE: Resolution Concerning the Use of Body Cameras Within the Yonkers Police Department

YONKERS, NY — December 1, 2015 — “Tonight we started an important dialogue as to whether the City of Yonkers’ Police Department should implement the use of body cameras within its force,” said Yonkers City Council Member Corazón Pineda-Isaac.

Tonight the Yonkers City Council’s Municipal Operations and Public Safety Committee, chaired by Pineda-Isaac, met to discuss a proposed resolution introduced by the Democratic Councilmembers that urged Mayor Mike Spano and the Yonkers Police Department to equip all members of the Yonkers Police Department with body cameras.

Members of the community and local organizations were present at the meeting, including the Yonkers branch of the NAACP and Community Voices Heard, as well as an expert in the field, Professor Joseph Ryan, Chair of the Criminal Justice and Security Department at Pace University.

Minority Leader Michael Sabatino, a co-sponsor of the resolution, said “I’m delighted that the discussion has commenced. While the technology is available, I want to ensure that all issues are addressed prior to implementation”.

Councilman Christopher Johnson, who also co-sponsored the resolution, stated that meetings like this help to build trust between the community and police. Using the latest technology in policing will strengthen that relationship.

A federal study was published in 2014 by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services of the United States Department of Justice, in collaboration with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). The study puts forth policy recommendations for police departments using body cameras, and touches on issues of concern that have to be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to adopt the use of this new technology. The study can be found at

http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/472014912134715246869.pdf

This meeting was the first of what is sure to be a series of such meetings meant to facilitate a community dialogue between elected officials, the Yonkers Police Department, and community members regarding the use of body cameras by the Yonkers Police Department in the City of Yonkers.

Council Member Pineda-Isaac said she “was glad to hear Commissioner Gardner state that the Yonkers Police Department is planning to implement a 3-6 month pilot program in the City of Yonkers in early 2016, and we are all looking forward to hearing the results and findings of that pilot program. The City of Yonkers continues to move in the right direction”.

The next Municipal Operations and Public Safety Committee Meeting will be scheduled in early 2016 to continue the dialogue in regard to the use of body cameras within the Yonkers Police Department.