A police union in Boston is trying to stop the department from making officers wear body cameras as part of a pilot program.
Boston Police are rolling out a program to test out body cameras beginning in September. It was initially voluntary, with the department seeking officers to be among the first in the city to wear them. But when no officers stepped forward, Commissioner William Evans elected to assign cameras to officers randomly.
The Boston Police Patrolmen's Association is seeking an injunction to stop officers from being required to wear cameras.
"The BPPA cant stand by and allow the City to blatantly violate the agreement it signed just over a month ago," the union said in a statement. "We had to act and act quickly to prevent this miscarriage of justice."
The union noted that it worked hard with city and department officials on a version of the program that "made sense and protected everyone's rights."
The Boston Police Department and the office of Mayor Marty Walsh told necn they are still reviewing the injunction.
"The union is exhausting all of their options and obviously they are filing suit," said Walsh.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
Training has already started and both the mayor and commissioner say the opposition isn't as strong as it seems from officers.
"I think the guys get it but I hope when the public sees this, it doesn't reflect poorly on the guys because they are out there working as hard as they can with the community," Evans said. "I think they get it, but it's more of the contractual language and whatnot that's causing this to happen. But please don't let it reflect poorly, our guys are doing a great job out there."
