If the Department of Public Safety wants its introduction of body cameras to be effective, its policy must be that the cameras remain on for officers’ entire shifts.

DPS will spend the next several months choosing which body cameras to use and running trials on those cameras. If those tests are successful, it hopes to equip its officers with cameras starting next semester. DPS was motivated by the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and hopes body cameras will provide evidence for situations on campus when officer conduct is questionable.

As DPS conducts physical tests of the cameras, it must solidify the policy and circumstances in which the cameras will be used. According to DPS, officers will turn off their cameras during “sensitive situations.”

Although there are a few months until DPS plans on actively using the cameras on campus, it should change its policy early on to mandate that cameras will remain on for the entirety of an officer’s shift. Turning a camera off for any part of an officer’s shift could raise questions about what occurred while the camera was off. Defining a “sensitive situation” is subjective. It should not fall to DPS — or anyone — to define when it’s appropriate to film, especially because “sensitive situations” could be the most important incidents for officers to record.

If DPS officers are required to wear cameras, they will announce they are recording before interacting with students. But this will also decrease the effectiveness of the cameras. If DPS officers are required to wear the cameras, there should be no reason they should ever be off during their shift, and students should already be aware that their cameras are on at all times.

If DPS decides to implement body cameras, it should send a general announcement to students that every DPS officer is now equipped with a camera that will remain on during their shifts. Students should have that expectation following the announcement.

To hold its officers truly accountable for any questionable actions and to protect them from any false claims, the DPS body cameras should stay on from the beginning to the end of officers’ shifts.