WINTER HAVEN — Bishop Willie Mincey hopes the officer-involved fatal shooting of a Winter Haven man Saturday will open the doorway for future discussions over the implementation of body cameras within the police department there.
"I think body cameras are essential to the day and time we live in," said Mincey, who is also the president of the Winter Haven branch of the NAACP. "To me, it's a vital thing now more than ever."
The Winter Haven Police Department is one of several law enforcement agencies in Polk County that does not use body or in-vehicle, dashboard cameras, police spokeswoman Jaime Brown confirmed. The department abandoned the use of dashboard cameras about 12 years ago, according to Brown, as the available technology was problematic and frequently broke down.