Police body cameras have successes and setbacks
3rd October 2016 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Last month’s fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte has reignited concerns across the country about police transparency and the use of body cameras on officers.
On September 20, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Brentley Vinson shot and killed 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott. Videos from the dashboard camera and other officers’ body cameras have provided inconclusive evidence. Vinson was not wearing a body camera. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney stated Vinson did not wear a camera because he is part of a tactical unit.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, five of the six Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers involved in fatal shootings over the past year were not using body cameras.
This begs the questions: how effective can body cameras be if not used by all officers and what are the guidelines for the cameras in New Orleans?
In 2014, the New Orleans Police Department implemented mandatory body cameras for all patrol officers. After the announcement, City of New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux praised the decision, citing a report by the Society for Evidence-based Policing of the United Kingdom.
The report described a full-year experiment involving all patrol officers in Rialto, California. The officers were divided into two groups: one with cameras and one without. The one without had twice as many use-of-force incidents as the camera group. When the camera group did apply force, they used lower levels than the other group.
“This scientifically rigorous experiment proved this technology’s power to resolve, even eliminate, citizen complaints of police misconduct,” Quatrevaux said in a 2014 letter to Mayor Mitch Landrieu.
In theory, the procedure sounds great. But the Scott case in Charlotte proves that cameras are not a fail-safe system for avoiding citizen complaints.
How are these cameras being deployed in New Orleans?
According to Tyler Gamble, communications director of the New Orleans Police Department, 420 body cameras were deployed in May 2014, followed by an additional 400. The cameras are worn by the following officers: district platoon (calls for service) and general assignment (proactive) officers, school resource officers, gang task force officers, special operations division officers (SWAT, canine, etc.), and district sergeants.
The activation of the camera is required for a wide variety of situations: field contacts involving actual or potential criminal conduct, traffic stops, emergency response, vehicle pursuits and searches, arrests and transports, physical or verbal confrontations, pedestrian checks, DWI investigations, domestic violence calls, statements made during the course of an investigation, advisements of Miranda rights, seizure of evidence, SWAT rolls, and high-risk warrants.
“Department members have discretion whether to activate a body-worn camera during consensual contacts of a non-criminal nature,” Gamble said. “The body-worn camera may not be used for the purpose of intimidating an individual or to discourage an individual from observing police activity, making appropriate inquiries of an officer, or making a complaint.”
Gamble said the department makes monthly spot checks to see if body cameras were activated in situations requiring their use. The department is currently at 98-99% compliance during these spot checks. Discipline for non-compliance has ranged from a letter of reprimand to dismissal. When the program began, a one-day suspension was mandatory, but after a negotiated settlement, a letter of reprimand is now allowed for discipline.
According to a 2016 press release from the NOPD outlining procedures for releasing videos, critical incident video should be provided within 48 hours to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office, the NOPD Compliance Bureau, and the United States Attorney’s Office. These agencies then consider several factors regarding whether the video should be made public. Reasons to keep a video private include safety concerns for individuals involved, as well as potential interference in any ongoing police investigation.
The final recommendation is to be made no later than seven days after the incident. Within 48 hours of the recommendation, the Superintendent of Police determines whether or not the recordings will be released to the public. If the recordings aren’t released, the NOPD must notify the federal judge overseeing the consent decree, the Department of Justice, and the consent decree monitor.
The cameras have had success in capturing inappropriate behavior by NOPD officers. In June of this year, three officers were fired and a fourth suspended for hitting a handcuffed man inside the French Quarter police station in September 2015.
A request made to Independent Police Monitor Susan Hutson for comment was not returned by press time.
This article originally published in the October 3, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
