Senator McCaskill starts hearings on the militarization of police departments a week from today.

One issue she expects the committee to discuss is whether federal law should require all police officers to wear body cams.

Use of body cams by police departments has gained momentum since the Michael Brown shooting three weeks ago in Ferguson. The officer involved ws not wearing a body cam nor did his car have a dash cam. Senator McCaskill says it’s only a matter of time before all officers have body cams, though. She says it hasn’t been that long ago that the dash cams began to proliferate in police cars. She recalls what she calls a “brutal” hit and run case involving a Highway Patrolman recorded by a dash cam in the trooper’s car. She says the recording was instrumental in catching the motorist who hit the trooper.
McCaskill thinks the cams would help curtail racial profiling, an issue that emerged in the Ferguson.
She also thinks the use of the cams would avoid a lot of misinformation and avoid mob mentalities taking over in certain situations. McCaskill says she’d like to see uniform use of the cameras sooner rather than later.
She expects body cams to be only one of a series of issued the committee will hear about.
AUDIO: McCaskill interview 3;18