The New York Police Department will launch a pilot program of officers wearing body cameras this fall. Only one precinct per borough — those with the highest number of stop-and-frisks — will allow officers to voluntarily wear the cameras during the pilot stage. The program is a step in the right direction, but only comes after an order from a federal judge in the stop-and-frisk court case. While some details, like the type of cameras to be used, are still undecided, Mayor Bill de Blasio expects the program to “provide transparency, accountability and protection for both the police officers and those they serve.”

As the stop-and-frisk case moved through court, police behavior across the country has continued to come under public scrutiny. The killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown have incited criticism of the excessive force employed by the officers involved. These controversies have fueled the notion that police officers are militant, confrontational and overzealous when apprehending suspects. Without any objective evidence, it is impossible to determine the events in a controversial case.

According to recently released Gallup data, only a little over one-third of black Americans showed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust in their police departments, compared to nearly 60 percent of white Americans. Police departments must have a productive relationship with residents in minority communities if they intend to bridge this gap. The cameras will create concrete, undisputed evidence to document officers’ actions. This practice will also deter racially biased or otherwise corrupt officers from acting inappropriately.

One of the main hurdles to the full implementation of police body cameras is concern for privacy. Donna Lieberman, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, warned against these cameras becoming a “tool for massive police surveillance.” However, the Supreme Court has defined the right to privacy as only applying when individuals have a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” which is not true of most police encounters. As people walk through the streets of New York, or any city, they can expect to be recorded by security cameras, weakening the invasion of privacy argument.

There will be issues as the program progresses, but its implementation marks an important turn from the previous mayoral administration. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg said body-mounted cameras would lead to “people questioning whether [officers] deliberately choose an angle.” However, a study conducted in Rialto, California, earlier this year showed an 88 percent decline in the number of complaints against officers when half of the department wore cameras. The new body cameras could either vindicate cops that are unfairly accused of crimes or convict them for their unjust actions. Regardless, the truth will become public, allowing for transparency in adjudication and community relations.

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Sept. 15 print edition. Email the WSN Editorial Board at [email protected].