Mississippi city ups penalty for police who fail to wear body cameras

Published 6:13 am Tuesday, January 4, 2022

A Mississippi city quintupled the maximum penalty on Monday for police who don’t wear body cameras after an incident in which only a bystander’s cellphone recorded alleged excessive force.

The rule violation had carried a one-day suspension, but Vicksburg’s Board of Mayor and Alderman voted to increase the maximum to five days, The Vicksburg Post reported.

One Vicksburg police officer was disciplined for using excessive force after a bystander posted video on Facebook of an arrest for disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct on Dec. 26.

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None of the officers present wore a body camera, and all were suspended for one day for failing to wear the cameras, said Mayor and Police Commissioner George Flaggs Jr.

“I thought that was not enough,” he said. “The body cameras are too important a tool for us not to wear them.”