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According to an internal email obtained by Propublica, the Drug Enforcement Agency quietly ended its body camera program just four years after it began.
On April 2nd, DEA headquarters sent an email to employees announcing the previous day that the program had effectively concluded. DEA has not publicly announced any policy changes, but by early April, the link to the DEA website’s body camera policy page had been broken.
The agency said the change was “consistent” in Trump’s executive order that retracted the 2022 requirement that all federal law enforcement agents use body cameras, according to the email.
But two other federal law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice – the former US S-Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, cigarettes, firearms and explosives still need body cameras. The FBI referred questions about its body camera policy to the Department of Justice and declined to comment.
The DEA did not answer questions about its decision to stop using the camera. Reuters reported on the change as part of the law enforcement’s budget cuts story.
One former federal prosecutor expressed concern that the change would make life even more difficult for DEA agents.
“We’re a great deal of exploring the world,” said David Devilers, a former US lawyer for the Southern District of Ohio. “And I’d say it’s 95% of the time to exempt fraud cops.”
The Justice Department began requiring federal agents to wear the device in 2021 following protests over the death of George Floyd the previous summer.
“We welcome the addition of physical wear cameras and appreciate the enhanced transparency and guarantees they provide to law enforcement officials who work hard to keep our community safe and healthy,” said a press release on September 1, 2021, announcing the use of the cameras.
In May 2022, then-President Joe Biden issued an executive order extending the use of body cameras to all federal law enforcement officials.
In January, the next Trump administration retracted the order, deeming almost 100 other 100 people “harmful.”
In early February, the US Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, was one of the first institutions to remove body cameras. The video follows a new immigrant agent making arrests without visible body cameras.
The DOJ wrote in its 2022 Inspector General Management Report that cameras are “a way to raise public confidence in police accountability and law enforcement.” According to the nonprofit police enforcement research forum, the departments using body cameras have consistently shown that they experience a decline in complaints against executives.
“To eliminate these videos is really taking away the tools that benefit law enforcement practices,” said Cameron McKellinney, executive director of the National Association of Private Supervisors. “It’s also a great educational tool, in addition to keeping members of the community safe from potential misconduct that could arise.”
DOJ has put a lot of money into the body camera initiative. In August 2021, Axon, the company that controls the body camera market, was awarded a $30 million contract for cameras and software to handle the evidence it created. According to Axon, the deal remains active. However, only about a sixth of that has been paid, according to federal contract data.
The latest published version of DEA’s body camera policy dates back to December 2022. Agents had to wear the device while undergoing a pre-planned arrest or search and seizure that required a warrant. They also requested that DEA officials only wear body cameras while working in the United States.
The agent was there 72 hours after the end of the operation to upload video evidence unless filmed. In that case, I was instructed to upload the video evidence as soon as possible. The policy, which laid out the detailed laying out how evidence from the camera and who should be dealing with it from the camera, allowed the DEA to use video evidence when investigating their officers.
The DEA planned to implement a phased policy so that national officials eventually wear devices when they ultimately provided warrants or made planned arrests. In a 2025 budget request to Congress, the agency will seek $15.8 million and 69 full-time employees, including five lawyers, to “enable a phased implementation plan for the DEA of the national use of body wear cameras.”
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Records obtained through citizens’ freedom of information law requests for Washington’s responsibility and ethics show that Biden-era DOJ had an ambitious plan to capture agency-wide metrics and data on the efficiency and use of body cameras by law enforcement officials.
Laura Iheanachor, a senior adviser to the crew, said several local police agencies refused to join the federal task force before federal law enforcement began wearing body cameras.
“This is a safeguard for the executives and for the public,” Iheanachor said. “And it allows state and federal law enforcement to work together in harmony.”
