Clinton calls for police body cameras to 'improve transparency'

NEW YORK — Calling deaths of black men at police hands an "unmistakable and undeniable'' pattern of tragedy, Hillary Clinton said "something is profoundly wrong'' with disproportionate police stops and searches of African-American men.

Clinton said all police departments should equip officers with body cameras. "That will improve transparency and accountability and it will help protect good people on both sides of the lens,'' she said. "For every tragedy caught on tape, there are surely many more'' that now go unrecorded.

"The patterns have become unmistakable and undeniable,'' Clinton said, citing the deaths of Walter Scott in South Carolina, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Eric Garner in New York and, most recently, Freddie Gray in Baltimore.

"Not only as a mother and grandmother but as a human being and a citizen, my heart breaks for these young men.''

She called for prayer for the city of Baltimore and for "all the men whose names we know, and those we don't, who have lost their lives unnecessarily and tragically.''

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Clinton's talk Wednesday at Columbia University was her most extensive policy discussion since beginning her presidential campaign this month. It followed her remark Tuesday at a fundraiser here that the violence in Baltimore has been "heartbreaking.''

Body cameras were recommended in March by an Obama administration task force formed after the deaths of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y. Clinton called the task force proposals "a good place to start.''

Clinton called for alternatives to "mass incarceration," including more treatment for mental health and drug addiction, and changes to probation and drug diversion programs. "Keeping them in prison does little to reduce crime, but it does a lot to tear apart families,'' she said.

Efforts to reduce the number of Americans in prison have gained support from both parties, including at least one Republican who, like Clinton, is seeking the presidency, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley, who is an all-but-announced Democratic presidential candidate, also supports body cameras for police.

In Clinton's case, criticizing the incarceration rate and police tactics is a bit tricky: It means acknowledging that a signature achievement of her husband's administration — the 1994 crime bill that provided federal funds for 10,000 police officers but also built more prisons and increased the number of federal crimes and death penalty crimes — contributed to the explosion in the prison population. Former president Bill Clinton recently acknowledged in a new book that the crime measures he supported then "overshot the mark.''

The former secretary of State praised "so many police officers out there every day inspiring trust and confidence'' and said there are police forces that fight crime "without resorting to unnecessary force.'' But she said the criminal justice system is "out of balance.''

Clinton made similar proposals to reduce incarceration during her 2008 presidential campaign. She tied the riots in Baltimore to a central theme of her 2016 bid: economic improvement for families. "We can't separate the unrest we see in our streets from the cycles of poverty and despair that hollow out those neighborhoods.''

Clinton spoke at a New York conference on urban issues hosted by former mayor David Dinkins.

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