More than body cameras needed to stop police violence, some say

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (BNG)—Body cameras for police are needed to ensure justice in the wake of the recent officer-involved shooting death of Walter Scott in North Charleston, S.C., some religious leaders assert.

Bill StanfieldChristianity Today published a story citing numerous Christian leaders who tout video as a necessity to provide police transparency and accountability.

Patrolman Michael Slager is charged with murder after his shooting of Scott was recorded on a bystander’s cellphone. Even a White House spokesman said Scott’s shooting proves police should wear body cameras.

But some ministers and community activists aren’t so sure that’s the silver bullet everyone seeks.

“That’s sort of like a painkiller for someone who has cancer,” said Bill Stanfield, the CEO of Metanoia, a faith-based community development corporation located just two miles from where Slager shot Scott in the back. “It alleviates symptoms of a bigger problem, but it doesn’t solve the larger issue.”

‘The sin of militarism’

Body cameras for police, while having benefits, don’t come anywhere close to providing solutions to the systemic social problems that resulted in Scott’s death, Stanfield said. Other religious leaders agreed.

“Body cameras are nice, but let’s be honest. The issue isn’t body cameras,” said Wendell Griffen, pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Ark.

Wendell GriffenGriffen agrees with those calling for body cameras, but he doesn’t believe they will have the justice-bringing results their proponents seek.

“The Rodney King beating was videotaped. The Eric Garner choking was videotaped. The shooting of Tamir Rice was caught on camera,” he noted.

And yet Scott still died from police violence, he said.

“The camera just records misbehavior or inhibits misbehavior in some—but people are going to figure out a way to circumvent the body camera technology,” Griffen said. “Let’s be honest about sin.”

Body cameras are needed but do not solve the fundamental problem, which is the poor or absent training of police to handle difficult encounters in peaceful ways, he said.

Instead, the militaristic culture of American police departments, and the larger pro-gun and pro-violence culture of the nation, encourage police to act as they did against King, Garner, Rice and others, Griffen said.

“We are recruiting people and training people to use violence as a means of resolving encounters that are not in and of themselves violent,” he said.

A North Charleston police car. (BNG/Creative Commons photo by City of North Charleston)“Can a camera fix that problem? Cameras on dashboards, on the body and in the air cannot fix that.”

What is needed is for ministers to become more demanding and prophetic in their preaching about “the sin of militarism” among police and society, he said.

“This is a moral and ethical issue, and we have not challenged other clergy, political leaders and our congregations,” he said. “It’s hard to get pastors to take on the gun culture.”

Preachers should start from their own pulpits and from there, go to the level of associations and denominations with that message, Griffen said.

“We must ask: How does the gun culture square with our notion of Jesus?”

Seminaries and divinity schools need to produce leaders willing to preach on this issue “in a way that is comprehensible from children on up,” he added.

Failure to be counter-cultural in a violence-loving culture will make vest cameras for police useless, Griffen said.

“What happened in North Charleston was just a symbol when we allow the gun community to define how government uses force,” he said.

‘A compromise solution’

Trey LyonPolice body cameras also have been sources of contention in some communities as debates rage over who can see the video. In some places, the video is not available to the public.

“The cameras are a compromise solution,” said Trey Lyon, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field worker based in Atlanta. “Who polices the police? Internal review boards and internal affairs.”

Pastors and churches not only must make their voices heard on police violence issues, but also must remember their pastoral responsibilities, said Lyon, who leads ministry efforts in urban Atlanta communities.

“The guy who gets shot may be in your church, but the cops may also be in your church,” he said.

And a tool likely more effective than body cameras, he added, is requiring police officers to live in the communities where they work.

“It’s harder to shoot someone you know,” Lyon said. “It just is.”

‘I wouldn’t stop there’

Stanfield agrees enhancements to community policing are part of the long-term solution to incidents like the Scott shooting.

Stanfield and his wife, Oliviera, are urban ministers who launched Metanoia as part of an anti-poverty initiative by CBF South Carolina. The grass-roots ministry works with youth and adults in areas such as financial literacy, housing and relationships between neighbors and police.

The ministry has been busy listening to community members talk about the shooting and their own encounters with police. Stanfield, who lives in the neighborhood, too, said he’s seen citizens and police mistreat each other.

“If I were in the legislature and body cameras came up, I would vote for body cameras, but I wouldn’t stop there,” he said.

“I would want officers well trained about diversity and community policing so that body cameras become unnecessary.”