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Quad City NAACP calls for local police to wear body cameras

The head of the Rock Island County NAACP is calling on local police chiefs to buy body cameras for their officers. Berlinda Tyler-Jamison is the President of th...

The head of the Rock Island County NAACP is calling on local police chiefs to buy body cameras for their officers.

Berlinda Tyler-Jamison is the President of the local chapter, and says she believes cameras are the answer to transparency in local police departments.

"For the public, it certainly documents the encounters with the police officer. It also promotes public safety," she said at a news conference in Rock Island on Thursday.

"We are not anti-law enforcement. We are for good policing," she said.

She said she is lobbying for Senate Bill 1304 to be signed by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. The bill would provide some state money to help local municipalities buy body cameras.

Pastor Jarrod Parker, with the The Word Church, also advocates re-implementing community policing and establishing better relationships with the black community.

"We need aggressive policing. There's an element in our community that is hell bent on destruction. We need aggressive policing. On the other side, police need to understand every event or interaction is not an aggressive interaction," he said.

The group is waiting for the results of the investigation into a police-involved shooting that ended in the death of Darrin Langford.

Police say Langford was armed. States Attorney John McGehee says he plans on announcing his findings at a news conference the first week of August.

 

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