Police Cameras in School: Privacy vs. Necessity

Legal Brief

With schools ever-attentive to improving safety for students and staff, some have turned to a police presence inside the school as a crime deterrence. But are police in schools overstepping their role and criminalizing what is otherwise normal misbehavior of kids?

Demonstrations of police using excessive force in the classroom are all over the news. Failing to obey a police directive can result in a student getting yanked from her desk and thrown across the room or an 8-year-old being handcuffed around his upper arms. Such actions may lead to requiring police officers to wear body cameras while assigned to school buildings.

The idea of camera-wearing police has been around for decades and for legitimate reasons — to stem crime, to de-escalate a situation, to document evidence and to encourage officers to be more careful in their actions.

Cameras On or Off?

But what about expectations of privacy? Do body-worn cameras constitute an illegal search or seizure? That depends on where the officer is situated within the school when wearing the camera. If the officer is in a public forum, such as an office or a hallway in a school, and someone does something illegal, there should be no expectation of privacy because the action is in plain view and in a public location.

If the police officer is in the classroom or bathroom or locker room, staff members and students may have an expectation of privacy in those locations and protection against an unreasonable search or seizure. The police would have to establish a reasonable suspicion that a prohibited activity occurred before turning on the body camera in those venues.

Maryland recently passed legislation allowing police officers to wear body cameras during their regular duties. The local police departments are part of a pilot program working with school districts to develop best practices as to when cameras will be turned on or off. Videos are subject to the Maryland Public Information Act and will be released only if legally required to do so.

The Montgomery County, Md., Police Department issued a memo to the 157,000-student school district’s employees outlining the benefits of police wearing body cameras. It addressed using the video footage to train officers and improve officer performance and “increase officer safety.” But left unclear is whether the video footage is meant to keep the officer safe or to keep the students safe from police action.

Student advocates are concerned body cameras are being used to deter police from using excessive force on students — raising the question about police officers being trained properly to interact with students in a school setting. Perhaps the better practice would be to train police officers properly before they enter a school building rather than after an officer is caught on tape using excessive force.

Legislated Practices

Maryland is just one of the states trying to establish best practices for videotaping police interaction with students. Education policymakers should do more work on this issue because body-worn camera in the classroom may be beneficial to students as well as police. The benefits may outweigh student privacy issues, with proper legislation.

Legislation or proposed legislation in most places is silent on when body-worn cameras should be turned on, and how to control the dissemination of the video after it is released. One need only turn to a news source to see the constant replay of footage of the young lady pulled from her classroom desk in Columbia, S.C., by a uniformed officer to realize nothing protects the identity of the student or prevents video from being appropriated for commercial purposes.

While there may be merits for camera-wearing officers for ensuring safety in our schools, public school leaders must be at least as concerned about violations of personal privacy. Body-worn cameras are quickly becoming the new normal practice for police offers. Stay connected to your state’s professional association for the status of any pending legislation authorizing police officers to wear body cameras in school facilities.


Michele Handzel is a school attorney with Capital Region BOCES in Albany, N.Y.
E-mail: michele.handzel@neric.org