Homeland Security Issues Guidelines on Body Cameras

The Department of Homeland Security has issued new guidelines for the use of body cameras for its law enforcement officers and agents.

The guidelines cover such agencies as the Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, the Secret Service ,and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and were revealed Monday in a memo from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The memo calls for body cameras to be used by law enforcement officers and agents only while they are conducting patrols or are otherwise engaged with the public in response to emergency calls; during a preplanned attempt to serve an arrest warrant or other preplanned arrests, including the apprehension of fugitives sought on state and local warrants; and during the execution of a search or seizure warrant or order.

The department said the new guidelines are following a May 2022 executive order by President Joe Biden on advancing effective, accountable policing and criminal justice practices to enhance public trust and public safety.

“Our ability to secure the homeland rests on public trust, which is built through accountability, transparency, and effectiveness in our law enforcement practices,” Mayorkas said in a news release. “Requiring the use of body-worn cameras by our law enforcement officers and agents is another important step DHS is making to bring our law enforcement workforce to the forefront of innovation, and to further build public trust and confidence in the thousands of dedicated and professional law enforcement officers at DHS.”

Homeland Security said over the last two years, the CBP has issued 7,000 body cameras to its workforce at locations across the southwest and northern borders, to be followed by select Office of Field Operations Special Response Teams. ICE conducted a pilot program, beginning with Homeland Security Investigations special agents who are members of the special response teams in Houston and El Paso, Texas, New York, and Newark, New Jersey, followed by Enforcement and Removal Operations officers in Atlanta, Salt Lake City, and Indianapolis.

The Secret Service also has issued an agency-specific policy on body cameras.