Which parts of the DoD should have their personnel wear body cams? Should any? Should body cams be required for certain missions down range?

CPT Aaron Kletzing — Wed, 05 May 2021 21:10:54 -0400

Hoping for a calm debate on this one. I have read that some parts of the USMC have tested out body cams with CONUS military police types of units. Maybe I missed it, but are other parts of the DoD doing this, too? Have body cams already been adopted? If not, should they be adopted, and why and by whom? Should body cams be mandatory for certain MOS's (Specialty areas) in a deployed environment, like with infantry units that patrol and do raids? DISCLAIMER: I am not implying Yes or No on any of this. I am just curious to hear everyone's thoughts.

Response by SP5 Private RallyPoint Member made May 5 at 2021 9:31 PM

SP5 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 05 May 2021 21:31:04 -0400

I need to have more information Aaron. For instance, has there been several serious issues involving the MP's, SP's with the execution of their orders that would demand body cam footage? Or is this one of those jeez whiz situations?

Response by GySgt Gary Cordeiro made May 5 at 2021 10:45 PM

GySgt Gary Cordeiro — Wed, 05 May 2021 22:45:30 -0400

CONUS Garrison cops yes, all others no.

Response by MAJ Byron Oyler made May 5 at 2021 11:30 PM

MAJ Byron Oyler — Wed, 05 May 2021 23:30:19 -0400

Personally I would like to wear them in any interaction in the emergency room with strict control of who has access. Anytime any of us in EMS, Healthcare, LEO, and Fire interact with others in a customer service role would be great. I have had people threaten me, kick me, punch me, and try to bite me and I am very good with evidence I did nothing wrong.

Response by SGT Robert Wager made May 5 at 2021 11:46 PM

SGT Robert Wager — Wed, 05 May 2021 23:46:13 -0400

Gotta be a hard no for me. I have to believe the quality and discipline of MPs is above local law enforcement. Primarily because they have a different mission than local law enforcement. MPs are charged with enforcing the UCMJ on posts and bases. Many, if not all are a controlled access facility.

The idea of making door kickers and other soldiers wear a body cam down range actually scares the hell out of me. I want a soldier that is not going to hesitate and wonder how it will look on camera when he pulls the trigger.

Response by MSgt Steve Sweeney made May 6 at 2021 12:22 AM

MSgt Steve Sweeney — Thu, 06 May 2021 00:22:48 -0400

The military serves the people and is funded by their tax dollars. The military should wear body cameras in any situation where competent authority has directed wearing of body cameras. Any information collected by worn body cameras should be handled in accordance with the information classification handling policies in force.

Response by SFC Casey O'Mally made May 6 at 2021 9:28 AM

SFC Casey O'Mally — Thu, 06 May 2021 09:28:19 -0400

I am of the opinion that Body Cams in LE capacity can be a good thing. Body Cams in training (like going through a shoot house) can be a GREAT thing. My concern is two-fold. First, *another* piece of equipment to figure out how to mount, maintain, and account for. Sure they are (relatively) small - but it is one MORE (relatively) small thing to add to the kit. Second, ownership of the footage. Once a record is created, it becomes subject to record keeping, records requests, etc. There is no practical reason to classify training footage of a shoot house, which means it should theoretically be subject to a FOIA request. But releasing that footage gives the enemy an advantage.

I personally think it is much more a WHEN question than an IF question. I hope that before we reach that point, we have a robust plan in place to answer those two big questions (as well as a bunch of other minor questions which I haven't thought of.

Response by MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P made May 6 at 2021 9:35 AM

MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P — Thu, 06 May 2021 09:35:29 -0400

I think non-combat situations would be appropriate for body cameras. War is hell and sometimes we have to do things the average citizen can't/don't/won't understand. Access (ie: the ability to download data) should be strictly controlled and should only be released with the approval of JAG.

Response by SSgt Christophe Murphy made May 7 at 2021 9:17 PM

SSgt Christophe Murphy — Fri, 07 May 2021 21:17:01 -0400

Cameras should be used on a case by case basis with the situation and mission dictating the requirements.

Creating a catch all policy for everyone to wear it always isn’t feasible and could be a potential waste of resources

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 17 at 2021 1:54 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 01:54:07 -0400

I say yes for anyone acting in a military police role. There was a BOLO out for me due to suicidal ideations and I was surrounded with guns pointed at me. 2 MAJs pointed their sigs at me (quiet easy to identify due to the coyote color). Then proceeded to attempt to force my window open (mind you door was unlocked) and failed after 5 attempts... once door was opened proceeded to threaten to tase me.... Talk about over escalating the situation. Yelled at the e4 that kindly asked me to shut off the car and I'm sure was about to ask me to roll my window down before they pulled up with a plethora of others....

This is definetly not the way to engage in a fellow soldier that is in a very depressive state... I keep getting told to suck it up and that was protocol.......

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Dec 24 at 2022 3:24 PM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 15:24:03 -0500

Soldiers have enough to worry about when faced with battle, peace enforcement of peace keeping missions. I hope that is one requirements that never a comes through.

They would however be awesome to use the recorded data during unit training and pre deployment activities.