Minneapolis, Minnesota. DHS body-worn cameras are being issued immediately to federal officers working in Minneapolis, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday, following public scrutiny after two U.S. citizens were fatally shot by federal agents in Minnesota. The move comes as a federal judge dissolved a temporary restraining order that had barred the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from destroying or altering evidence tied to one of the shootings.
Minneapolis DHS body worn cameras deployment
Noem said every DHS officer on the ground in Minneapolis will be outfitted with body-worn cameras, including officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and that the program will expand nationally as funding becomes available.
The announcement follows the shooting death of Alex Pretti during a protest in Minneapolis in late January.
What is not confirmed yet is how quickly DHS body-worn cameras will be deployed beyond Minneapolis, which DHS components will receive cameras first, and whether any funding language being debated in Congress will mandate specific timelines or operational requirements.
U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud dissolved an order that had temporarily blocked DHS from destroying evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Pretti. The judge said DHS was unlikely to destroy evidence and that continued court intervention was not warranted given DHS’s commitments to preserve materials.
