Cleveland City Councilman calls for faster action in police body cameras after Tamir Rice shooting

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland City Councilman Zack Reed said if Cleveland police had been equipped with the body cameras council approved in October, there would be fewer unanswered questions about the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by an officer.

Zack Reed

Council passed legislation in October authorizing the department to spend $1.6 million on getting hundreds of officers equipped with the cameras, but Reed said Mayor Frank Jackson is delaying the process.

City administrators have said police will have the cameras in the first quarter of 2015, but in light of Rice's shooting, Reed said there is need for immediate action.

Cleveland police have shown support for the body cameras because of the opportunity for fairness.

"If [police] are doing their job properly, they want the public to know they're doing their job properly," Reed said.

Reed said the cameras would help ease tension between police and the public, and also aid in investigations. He called the Rice shooting a "he-said, she-said" situation between witnesses and police.

Reed has also garnered support from the Cleveland residents he represents.

"I can't tell you how many people have said, 'Go ahead, keep going and how can I support you?'"

Now, Reed said, it's a matter of putting pressure on Jackson.

research committee that traveled across the country found that citizen complaints against police officers dropped by 80 percent and use of force incidents dropped by 50 percent in a California police department equipped with cameras.

Cleveland police tested body cameras on 200 officers in the spring and underwent training throughout the year, according to Reed.

Reed cited the immediate action police Ferguson, Missouri took in getting cameras for their officers after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in August.

He hesitated to compare the Rice shooting to Ferguson, but said some parallels exist.

"If you look at Ferguson and the situation in Cleveland, they are the same in the sense that you have a police officer alleging one thing and two young black men dying before their 21st birthday," Reed said.

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