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Police officers in Phoenix, Arizona are now required to document every time they point a gun at someone.
Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams announced during a news conference on August 19 that officers now will need to file a report for all instances when they point a gun at an individual. The form and the incident will be reviewed by a city supervisor.
"When a gun is pointed at someone, that's a traumatic event," Williams said during the press conference. "I think this is a first step in being... that accountable, transparent organization that is willing to share what we do and how we do it."
The new rule comes after an internal review and upon recommendations from a National Police Foundation (NPF) study, USA Today
I do not see this new policy working at all. This would require officers to be honest and fair in their conduct.
As evidenced by past behavior, I don’t think we can trust that a cop will self-monitor themselves.
The cop’s weapon should be linked to an alert which they are not able to disable. Draw the gun and the body camera goes on, or shows an icon, and cannot be switched off. With the prevalence of off-site monitoring, an alert could be sent to the station when a cop draws his gun. Or, a loud alarm is activated when it is pulled from the holster.