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Border patrol agents, officers to begin using body-worn cameras

Ron Reiring / CC BY-SA 2.0

WASHINGTON (KION) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that it has started to use body-worn cameras with a group of agents and officers in an effort to enhance transparency and accountability.

“Our agents and officers serve the public and protect our borders every day with great skill and professionalism,” said Troy Miller, CBP Acting Commissioner.  “Providing them with state-of-the-art technology and tools like body-worn cameras will support their work and provide greater transparency into interactions between CBP officers and agents and the public.”

By the end of the year, the agency said expects to deploy about 6,000 cameras, and deployment is starting at Border Patrol locations along the southwest and northern borders. After that, they will move on to some Office of Field Operations ports of entry around the country.

The cameras are part of the agency's new Incident-Driven Video Recording Systems program, which it says records and stores video and audio data. The cameras are reportedly about the size of a deck of cards and will be worn on the front of uniforms. They are expected to run continuously in the background, and once an officer or agent activates a camera, it starts to save the footage starting two minutes before the activation.

CBP said it has drafted protocols to follow when activating cameras, and the footage will be saved based on the nature of the incident and its value as evidence.

"The implementation of body-worn cameras will further strengthen CBP’s ability to document and review enforcement encounters and use of force incidents, and to investigate allegations of misconduct on the part of our personnel.  This is a significant step forward and will build upon CBP’s current utilization of other technology to investigate incidents and allegations of misconduct," the agency wrote in a statement.

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Avery Johnson

Avery Johnson is the Digital Content Director at KION News Channel 5/46.

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