The Baltimore City Council unanimously approved a bill tonight requiring police officers to wear body cameras, setting up a confrontation with the mayor who has vowed to veto any such legislation.

Councilman Warren Branch, chair of the Public Safety Committee, said the Council was “hearing the call of the people” and “for once [doing] what they want.”

The bill (14-0443) passed second reader, the critical vote for legislation, and is expected to be formally ratified on third reader at the body’s next meeting on November 17 and sent to the mayor for her signature.

Shortly before tonight’s meeting, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wrote a letter to the Council saying she would veto the bill even though she favors body cameras.

“Let me be perfectly clear: there will be body cameras in Baltimore City,” she wrote as she faulted the Council for overstepping its powers by trying to “legislate the operation of the Police Department.”

Insisting that “my administration has been doing the work” on body camera implementation, Rawlings-Blake asked the Council to wait until a newly appointed mayoral committee completed its work.

She said the committee would finish its deliberations in early 2015 and she would then submit a supplementary appropriation bill to the Council authorizing funds for roughly 3,500 body cameras and other necessary equipment, such as for data storage.

Who Gets the Credit?

The bill passed tonight by the Council does not include any financial appropriations for body cameras. By law, the Council does not have the authority to spend money on its own, but instead can only act on money bills submitted by the mayor.

Alluding to the politics of police cameras, Councilman Brandon Scott, vice chair of the Public Safety Committee, said implementation of cameras should not be a matter of “who is going to get the credit” but of safeguarding the public.

In considering the use of body cameras, the Council and Rawlings-Blake are both reacting to the public outcry over recent disclosures about police “use of force” on citizens.

These disclosures include a video of a police officer repeatedly punching an unarmed man at a bus stop on North Avenue and a parade of cash settlements approved by the mayor and Board of Estimates to settle citizen lawsuits alleging police misconduct and violence.

Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts required body cameras on officers when he was chief of the Oakland, Calif., police. Calling Batts the nation’s “architect of these cameras,” Branch said there was no need to delay their use in Baltimore with Batts handling the matter.