Police Body Cameras Spark Debate About Privacy in Tennessee

In Franklin, TN, walking a fine line between residents' high expectations of privacy and transparency regarding body cameras is paramount, the city's police chief said, reports the Tennessean .

That's why — although city officials have already funded a body camera program — they're holding off on rolling out the cameras until state law addresses how best to use them and what footage becomes a public record.

"I believe that body cameras will become a basic piece of law enforcement work," Franklin Police Chief Deborah Faulkner recently told city leaders. "But the first agencies that implement body cameras will create case law and I want to avoid that."

In Tennessee, the Knox County Sheriff's Office and the police departments in Millersville, Gallatin and Memphis are among the law enforcement agencies large and small already using or testing body cameras. Metro Nashville police officials have said they're keeping a close eye on other major departments' policies and say body cameras probably will be used in Nashville.

Franklin officials have emphasized that discussions there are still in their very early stages.