Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center Police To Begin Using Body Cams This Week

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Police officers at the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center will soon begin using body cameras and dash cameras in their patrol cars thanks to an initiative by the federal government.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs in June announced that VA police officers will begin to use in-car and body-worn cameras by the end of 2023, with the effort beginning over the summer with police officers in VA's Desert Pacific Healthcare Network.

The federal agency says the Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center’s VA Police intend to begin utilizing body-worn cameras on Friday, Dec. 22, while vehicle dash cameras to be in service around March 2024.

The new policy is part of President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14074, “Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety,” along with the bipartisan Cleland-Dole Act of 2022, which requires that all VA Police officers wear body cameras that record and store video and audio.

“Thousands of VA police officers bravely protect and serve anyone who sets foot on a VA facility,” Veterans Health Administration Senior Security Officer Troy Brown said. “By outfitting every VA police officer with a body-worn camera, we’re enhancing transparency and ensuring safety and accountability in policing.”

Biden's executive order requires that all federal law enforcement agencies use body-worn cameras to promote equitable, transparent, accountable, constitutional, and effective law enforcement practices.

The VA said the cameras will automatically record video and audio when an officer draws their issued firearm from their duty belt holster or when an officer activates the emergency lights in their police vehicle.

To prepare its staff, the VA says police officers and privacy officers are undergoing extensive training to prepare for its new policies.

“Our great police officers keep Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors safe at VA facilities every day,” VA Secretary Dennis McDonough. “Using dashcams and bodycams will make our facilities even safer – building trust in our great police force while increasing transparency and promoting de-escalation.”

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