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News from everywhere *but* Central New Hampshire.

Portsmouth Police To Study Use Of Body Cameras

Photo: West Midlands Police/cc/flickr

The Portsmouth Police Commission is putting together a group to study whether the city police department should start using body cameras or patrol car cameras.

The group will look at the cameras' costs and how other New England communities use them, either for trainings or in court.

Jim Splaine is a Portsmouth police commissioner, and he proposed this review group last month.  He says, getting body cameras might just be a matter of time.

"It may be something we would like to do sooner rather than later for Portsmouth because of the practicality of the technology of today and the value of having transparency for our police."

Police officers, the police chief, the commissioners and six volunteer citizens will make up the review group.

Citizens are encouraged to apply by Friday, Oct. 19th. So far, the commission's received about 10 applications. The commission will select the citizen volunteers at their next meeting on Oct. 23rd.

Commissioner Joe Onosko says he’d like to see people with some expertise in policing or other matters apply.

The group plans on having a number of public forums, and aims to put together recommendations by next spring.

After that report is out, the commissioners will then vote on whether or not to implement body cameras.

I help guide NHPR’s bilingual journalism and our climate/environment journalism in an effort to fill these reporting gaps in New Hampshire. I work with our journalists to tell stories that inform, celebrate and empower Latino/a/x community members in the state through our WhatsApp news service ¿Que Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire? as well as NHPR’s digital platforms in Spanish and English. For our By Degrees climate coverage, I work with reporters and producers to tell stories that take audience members to the places and people grappling with and responding to climate change, while explaining the forces both driving and limiting New Hampshire’s efforts to respond to this crisis.
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