By Mark Gillispie
Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Cleveland is asking the federal judge overseeing an agreement to reform the police department not to require officers to wear city-issued body cameras while moonlighting.
City attorneys said in a court filing last week that none of the 630 officers approved for secondary employment volunteered to wear body cameras while moonlighting for a proposed pilot program.
The reform agreement called a consent decree didn’t require police body cameras when it was approved in 2015. It did say if Cleveland officers use them, a policy needed to be approved by the court.
A proposed policy submitted in January didn’t include a requirement for body cameras during secondary employment. The idea was pushed by the consent decree’s independent monitor, Matthew Barge.
Barge says he’ll be writing a response to the city’s filing.