Grand jury investigates use of body-worn cameras by police
UPDATE 7/12/2016 6:15 PM:
A new grand jury report is focusing on local law enforcement and body cameras, specifically which agencies are using them and how. It found that local agencies were slow to expand the use of cameras.
Of the 15 law enforcement agencies in Monterey County, only six use body cameras every day. That includes police departments in Salinas, South County and the Monterey Regional Airport. The city of Monterey and Del Rey Oaks are moving forward with pans to buy cameras. The rest want to move forward but claim a lack of funding is the biggest problem.
“We’ve been looking into body cameras for some time,” said Monterey County Sheriff Steve Bernal. “They’ve been cost-prohibitive. We’ve tested some cameras. I believe there is a camera that the deputies like, that our management likes and but right now our biggest obstacle is just the cost of the cameras themselves and storage.”
The report said the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office was considering them but not committed to their use. Sheriff Bernal disagreed, saying his department doesn’t have the $2.5 million needed to outfit the entire department with cameras, replacement parts and data storage.
Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin said despite the high cost, you can’t put a price on the value.
“This is our way of ensuring our side of the story gets told from the officer’s perspective to the extent that it can through the camera,” he said “It’s really an exercise in community trust, transparency and accuracy.”
McMillin said it’s important to remembert hat body cameras, like cellphone recordings, only tell part of the story.
“If somebody walked through my office door and I had my head to my office door, the camera may not pick that up,” McMillin said. “Another thing, if you did something silly and reached into your purse for a gun and I drew my pistol, then I’d be challenging you but I may be blocking the view of the body camera. The body camera sees better at night than a human being does. So if we were in a low-light situation, what might be apparent to the viewer of the video may not be apparent to the police officer.”
McMillin said cameras are effective in keeping both police and the public honest. When someone calls in with a complaint, the higher-ups have been able to look at raw video to see if an officer has acted out of order. Many times, he said, video showed the complaints were unfounded.
The grand jury report also found that none of our local agencies comply on state guidelines implemented earlier this year. The Salinas police policy came out before the state’s. Their videos are uploaded to a third-party cloud server. Officers cannot go in and edit video and there’s an audit trail so they know exactly who looked at the video and when.
ORIGINAL POST:
The Monterey County Civil Grand Jury released a report Monday on the use of body-worn cameras by local law enforcement agencies. According to the report, six local agencies use the cameras on a daily basis and more plan to do so in the future.
KION’s Mariana Hicks talked with local police officials and looks at the policies and expectations for body-worn cameras tonight at 5 and 6 on KION, your Central Coast News Source.
