By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.-At-Large) and U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.-08) are set to reintroduce a bill that would require all federal police to use body and dash cameras upon Congress’ return in September.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are expected to return on Sept. 2.
“With a president in the White House abusing his power over federal law enforcement to compel local governments to enforce his cruel and inhumane policies, our country needs this bill,” said Norton in a statement via a press release on Aug. 20. “For D.C., that need could not be more urgent.”
Washington, D.C., is currently operating under Section 740 of the 1973 District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to put the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control once invoked.
“President Trump’s unjustified and inflammatory surge of federal law enforcement officers in the District has resulted in violent arrests using excessive force, but without body cameras, we’re left to rely on videos filmed by onlookers and public reporting to learn what happened,” she said. “Federal officers in D.C. have recently been filmed using excessive force during arrests, refusing to identify the agency they belong to and obscuring their own faces. Body and dashboard camera requirements would provide much-needed transparency and a chance at accountability for victims during this unprecedented time in the nation’s capital.”
The bill was first introduced after two U.S. Park Police officers shot 25-year-old Bijan Ghaisar, who was unarmed, on Nov. 17, 2017, after a vehicular chase, leading to his hospitalization. He died 10 days later. The House passed the legislation in 2021.
Beyer said he’s concerned about what the public is not able to see, that journalists or bystanders are not able to see. That concern trickles into Northern Virginia, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) raids are taking place.
“These abuses of power cry out for transparency and accountability, and our bill would answer that need,” said Beyer. “Every one of these officers should be wearing a body camera.”