Hey Merrick, you’re a few months late on SPD body cameras

The big news Monday (outside of Rachel Dolezal) wasn’t really big news at all. Several newspapers, TV newscasts, and blogs lead with what they’ll have us believe is a meaningful and almost shocking admission by the Seattle Police Department federal monitor Merrick Bobb: he wants the SPD to have body cameras.

In a semiannual report, Bobb wrote: “The time for permanent use of on-officer cameras by all SPD officers is now.”

Related: Dori asks why there’s not enough money for body cams

Welcome to the party, Bobb, but the time for body cameras has long passed; it’s a conversation I’ve had with Seattle Police Department Chief Kathleen O’Toole weeks ago and with SPD’s COO Mike Wagers months ago. The SPD is on board with body cameras. The problem is, Bobb’s sudden urging doesn’t change the reasons why the SPD doesn’t have a full force of body cameras right now.

Related: Spot the anarchist in this SPD body cam video

First, body cameras are a significant investment. In this case, it would be about $2 million. The Obama administration promised to provide $20 million to help buy body cameras, but the money hasn’t come yet. Perhaps in your next semi-annual report you can send a separate email to the Obama administration and Congress to get the cash?

Second, maybe you can also write a note to the ACLU and other privacy rights activists to help craft some rules that are beneficial to both the general public and the SPD. They have privacy concerns over this topic. It’s the reason we have laughable videos like this from the body camera pilot program:

“The ACLU supports the use of body cameras as a means of police accountability,” said Jared Friend, the technology and liberty director for the ACLU of Washington, to KING 5. “But there must be policies in place prior to their deployment that protect privacy and limit their use to accountability purposes and not for general surveillance.”

Now it’s important to note that the ACLU wants to use this as a means of “police accountability.” I’d like this to provide accountability to police and the public. In fact, it will help keep both officers and the public in check (outside of anti-cop activists who actively try to goad a cop into using force; now we’ll have it all on tape for the world to see). The ACLU isn’t especially interested in helping cops, so the SPD has hired its own people to work on the technology to address some of the concerns.

Related: Seattle police chief responds to criticism over May Day actions

But understand what would happen if the SPD followed Bobb’s advice today. The second they put body cameras on officers, it’ll be accused of skirting privacy laws (and their likely accusers would include Bobb and activist blogs). So let’s continue to work on a policy that respects privacy.

Merrick (can I call you that?), I love your idea, even if it is a bit late. It turns out, however, you can’t simply institute this kind of change without dollars and a policy activists can agree on.