Starting on Monday, the first day of school, all school resource officers and patrol officers in Howard County, Maryland, will wear body worn cameras.
The new policy aligns with the Howard County Police Department Body Worn Camera program, which went into effect in mid August.
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In June of last year, the county’s Board of Education approved a revised school resource officer memorandum of understanding with the police department. In it contained plans for this school year’s body worn camera program.
The new policy dictates that when responding to incidents in county public schools, school resource officers will only activate the camera when necessary for law enforcement purposes.
The cameras won’t be activated during routine, daily interactions with students or staff. The policy also encourages officers to attempt to avoid recording educational activities, and people other than those involved in incidents.
There are currently 13 school resource officers in the county, one in each of the high schools and one at the Homewood Center.