BUFFALO, N.Y. — The idea of law enforcement members wearing body cameras may seem commonplace, but it's actually a new policy now for some federal agents here in the Buffalo area.
2 On Your Side spoke with a former Homeland Security agent for his perspective.
Agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, have sometimes been on the front lines of handling arrests and actual deportation of undocumented individuals. Now they will join local and state police officers in the practice of wearing and activating body cameras.
It stems from a 2022 executive order from President Biden in the wake of the George Floyd case. It applies also to agents of Homeland Security Investigation, who handle smuggling cases in field offices on the northern border here in Buffalo and Detroit, as well as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.
So far with limited funding, only those offices and agents are affected. It's estimated perhaps less than 200 in Buffalo. Up to 1,600 of the body cameras will be distributed by ICE and Homeland Security at this point.
Steven MacMartin is a local former Homeland Security agent who is now a Professor with Cybersecurity Program at Hilbert College. He is not surprised by a policy which he feels just makes sense for transparency and safeguards for agents as well.
"I think in almost all cases they're going to show the public that nothing bad is happening behind the scenes. If you got a body camera, you just say, 'Look. Look at the footage. See? It didn't happen that way.' "
Some may ask why a body camera policy didn't apply to federal agents sooner. MacMartin says a local cop has much more interaction with the public and there are many, many more of them than federal agents.
"The use of that type of equipment was almost a no brainer at the local level years ago. The federal level, as you moved up through the layers of law enforcement, was almost you know kind of a non-priority," MacMartin said.
Some of these agents handle deportation, so 2 on Your Side asked MacMartin, "You don't think this is related to anything with concerns about immigration?"
He responded: "I don't think there is any priority given at a cabinet level basis that said, 'You know, we have to think about giving body-worn cameras to the Department of Homeland Security because immigration is a hot button topic,' versus the FBI, because they don't have any hot button topics. No."
The New York Immigration Coalition, which advocates for immigrants, responded with a statement.
"All New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status, deserve to live safely in their homes and communities. For too long, ICE has been used as a tool to divide, intimidate, and cruelly separate families. We have consistently seen that ICE inappropriately abuses technology to surveil and target immigrant communities. ICE wearing body cameras in Buffalo will do nothing to help public safety. If we want to actually make our communities safer, we must pass New York For All to end local law enforcement’s collusion with ICE,” said Meghan Maloney de Zaldivar, Senior Director of Advocacy, New York Immigration Coalition.