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Baltimore Co. Senator Wants To Require Off-Duty Officers Wear Body Cams While In Uniform

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A Baltimore County senator is proposing off-duty Baltimore County Police officers who are working in uniform wear body cameras.

The proposal comes from a case where an officer shot and killed a man he suspected of shoplifting at a Baltimore County supermarket. Christopher Clapp was killed in August 2017 by an off-duty Baltimore County Police officer who was working security at a Giant supermarket in Catonsville.

Surveillance video shows Clapp in his car, then the officer confronted him about stealing detergent and apparently dragged the man before shooting him.

The shooting was ruled justified, but the video makes it hard to see exactly what transpired.

Sen. Jim Brochin says uniformed officers should be wearing body cams while working security.
"The public has a right to the protection that body camera offers, the same way police officers are entitled to protection," Brochin said. "As long as that Baltimore County Police officer is wearing it, whether they're moonlighting in a secondary job which has been approved by the police department or whether they're in their primary employment."

The state's attorney has ruled that the second officer went after Clapp, he was no longer off-duty security, he was a county police officer.

There are procedural details that have to be worked out, like where to keep the cameras, but the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office is in favor of the bill.

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