Law & the Media Committee Panel Discussion on Body Cameras

The State Bar of Michigan Law and the Media Committee will host a panel discussion called “Body Cams: Competing Issues of Transparency, Privacy, and Constitutional Rights” from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on March 9 at the Spencer M. Patrich Auditorium at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. The Wolverine Bar Association will cosponsor the discussion.

A recent survey conducted by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs' Association found that up to 95 percent of large police departments in the U.S. plan to implement a body camera program in the near future.

A panel, moderated by Michigan Press Association General Counsel Robin Luce-Herrmann, and comprised of M.L. Elrick, reporter for Fox 2 Detroit; Rodd Monts, field director for ACLU of Michigan; Benny Napoleon, Wayne County sheriff; Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association; and Christopher White, member of Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality; will discuss issues police departments face when creating policies to govern implementation of body cameras.

The panel will address how the use of body cams could affect law enforcement, privacy protection for people caught on body camera footage, access to captured footage, costs related to handling the footage, rules for the proper use of body cameras by police officers and how to handle violations of those rules.

For more information, contact SBM Communications Manager Samantha Meinke at smeinke@mail.michbar.org or (517) 346-6332.