Atlanta City Council members backed a resolution on Monday urging state officials to mandate the use of body cameras by law enforcement agencies.
Under current law, the Georgia State Patrol and Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers are not required to capture video footage while on duty and most aren’t equipped with body cameras at all.
Calls to change that have mounted after 26-year-old environmental protester Manuel “Tortuguita” Teran was fatally shot by police during a “clearing operation” of the wooded area in DeKalb County that will be home to Atlanta’s planned public safety training facility.
State investigators said Teran fired first at the troopers on the scene, an account that his family disputes. But the GBI said there was no body camera footage of the deadly encounter on Jan 18, which has left room for widespread speculation of what may have happened.
The City of Atlanta began requiring police officers to wear body cameras in 2017 and provided the only footage of the incident that day. But the officers were not in direct view of what occurred.
The lack of first-hand footage has fueled a wave of distrust from protesters and some elected officials about the events that led up to Teran’s death, leading to calls for an outside investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The incident has also added to cries to call off the $90-million project altogether.
The legislation passed by the Atlanta City Council urges Georgia state officials to provide funding for the implementation of body cameras, provide clear standards for use across agencies and determine penalties for officers who do not use their cameras in accordance with new policies.
“Recent joint operations have underscored the necessity of body-worn cameras for all responding officers, the absence of which has placed an undue, unfair, and unacceptable burden on (Atlanta Police Department) officers,” the resolution reads.
The proposal passed in a 13-1 vote with only Councilman Byron Amos voting against it.
Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari, who introduced the resolution, told colleagues on the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee last week that city officials have a responsibility to push for law enforcement accountability.
“The fact that there is any activity that takes place between officers and civilians that is not documented is something that should never happen,” Bakhtiari said.
She added that in 2023, requiring law enforcement officers to wear body cameras should be a standard request.
Georgia lawmakers for years have resisted enacting such rules across the state. In the 2023 legislative session, a Democratic proposal to do so never received a hearing.
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