VANCOUVER, WA— Former elected prosecutor, Angus Lee, has filed two voter initiatives with the Secretary of State that would require state law enforcement officers to wear body cameras while in uniform and another that would require that law enforcement agencies publish on their department web pages when an officer in their agency has used force on someone in the line of duty.
He has also made signing the petition possible online using Docusign technology. He is hoping that through the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter, those interested can both sign on line, and also reach out to their family and friends to do the same.
The voter initiative can be signed online at www.copcameras.org.
If successful, this would the first time a Washington State Voter Initiative has gathered petition signatures using electronic signature gathering.
Angus Lee said that “we are trying to increase public safety, improve law enforcement accountability, and enhance democracy by gathering these petition signatures online. The year is 2015 not 1915, so it is time to take advantage of things like body cameras, public web pages, and electronic signature gathering for petitions.”
Angus Lee stated, “these initiatives will increase public safety and improve relations between law enforcement and the communities they serve by increasing transparency in the area of law enforcement use of force.”
The limited use of body cameras by law enforcement has been the subject of national discussion over the last few months following several use of force incidents in places like New York, Ferguson, and recently Olympia, Washington.
Angus Lee stated, “body worn video cameras can do great things for good officers who are wrongly accused of misusing their authority. At the same time, however, body cameras will help protect the general public from improper police conduct.”
