Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said Wednesday that last month's fatal shooting of an unarmed black man as he was fleeing police in his hometown of North Charleston played heavily into legislation he would soon introduce to provide police departments that cannot afford them with body cameras.
"For me, North Charleston had a lot to do with me stepping forward and asking for the hearing," the first-term Republican told Jake Tapper on CNN.
Scott testified Tuesday at a hearing of a panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the need for body cameras.
He called for the session last month in the wake of the April 4 shooting of Walter Scott, 50, by Michael Slager, a white city police officer who was fired after the incident, after Slager stopped Scott for a nonworking brake light.
According to cellphone video of the incident shot by a local resident,
Slager fired eight shots at the back of Scott as the man fled. Scott falls after the eighth shot, fired after a brief pause.
Slager, 33, who had been on the force six years, was fired and charged with murder in Scott's death. Walter Scott and the senator are not related.
Sen. Scott said the legislation, which would be introduced within 90 days, would provide federal funds for body cameras to local police forces that cannot afford them. His plans resulted from the judiciary committee hearing, he said.
"Over a dozen groups have come in and talked about their concerns — whether it's disclosure issues, whether it's data retention," Scott told Tapper. "There's a lot of issues that we need to solve on our way to it."
He said that about 4,000 police departments nationwide have body cameras for their officers. "I'm trying to make sure the funding apparatus that could be available is available," he said.
Scott told CNN that the public uproar over police deaths of African Americans in New York, Baltimore, and Ferguson, Missouri, have heightened demand for the cameras.
"Certainly watching the theme that's going on, we have the opportunity to restore trust between law enforcement and community members through the use of body-worn cameras.
"This would probably be a very good tool for law-enforcement officers," the senator said.
He cited studies showing that the cameras had led to a 90 percent drop in excessive-force complaints against police and have cut excessive force by 60 percent.
"Everyone seems to act differently when they know they're on video," Scott said.
He also slammed critics who said his legislation would be tantamount to federalizing local police forces.
"There's nothing further from the truth," he told Tapper. "I haven't heard any of my Senate colleagues come forward and say they believe that the step forward of having body cameras available for local law enforcement is in any way, shape, or form federalizing local law enforcement.
"I would oppose, strongly object, and stand in the way of federalizing local law enforcement," Scott said.
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