Police body-worn cameras stop-and-frisk judge suggested have helped Rialto Police Department
Since using the cameras, formal complaints against the California officers have fallen 88%. But its police chief stopped short of endorsing a similar program for New York City, which has a police force 300 times larger.
Comments (2)BY NANCY DILLON / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2013, 7:52 PM
NICK STERN
Rialto Police Department Sgt. Chris Hice with the body-worn camera fitted to his sunglasses.
When Officer Randy Peterson approached a disturbed man in Southern California in June, he tapped a button in his breast pocket and started a camera rolling.
He’s glad he did.
The man told Peterson he had a bomb.
“He said it was inside him,” the young Rialto, Calif., cop recalled on Monday. “He said he had a nuclear bomb inside his leg.”
NICK STERN
More than 50 front-line officers are outfitted with body-worn cameras in Rialto, a city of 100,000 about an hour east of Los Angeles.
Peterson referred the man for a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation. The man later lodged a complaint of police brutality.
“He claimed I hurt him,” Peterson said. “He said I broke his bones, that force was used against him. No force was used.”
The encrypted video showed the cop was right.
NICK STERN
The Rialto Police Department's camera program was mentioned by Manhattan Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin in her ruling Monday that NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program was unconstitutional.
Peterson, an ex-Marine, held up a letter showing the investigation into his actions was closed Aug. 6.
“I like the cameras because I don’t have to worry about what someone might say that isn’t true,” he told the Daily News.
Peterson is one of more than 50 front-line officers outfitted with body-worn cameras in Rialto, a city of 100,000 about an hour east of Los Angeles.
The Rialto Police Department’s camera program — which started with an experiment that ran from February 2012 to this past February — was mentioned by Manhattan Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin in her ruling Monday that the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program was unconstitutional.
NICK STERN
Rialto Police Chief Tony Farrar said he had worried the cameras would have a chilling effect, but found that wasn't the case: 'When you put a camera on a police officer or anyone, the natural human reaction is that you behave a little more professional.'
Scheindlin invoked Rialto, which plans to expand its camera program, when she ordered the precinct with the highest number of stop-and-frisks in each New York City borough to start using the devices.
“While the logistical difficulties of using body-worn cameras will be greater in a larger police force, the potential for avoiding constitutional violations will be greater as well,” the judge wrote.
Critics fear the body cameras will make New York’s Finest overly cautious about stopping possible suspects, leading to a rise in crime.
NICK STERN
Sgt. Chris Hice at the camera charging and download station.
Rialto Police Chief Tony Farrar said he, too, had worried the cameras would have a chilling effect, but found that wasn’t the case.
“The thinking was that some officers wearing cameras might try to hide and not really do their job. We found the opposite,” Farrar said. “We actually had 3,000 more officer-citizen contacts during the year (of the experiment).”
At the same time, formal complaints against his officers plunged 88% during the year, he said. And officer “use of force” incidents dropped by 59%.
“The results were quite amazing,” Farrar said.
NICK STERN
Rialto Police Department veteran officer Rondo Garcia likes the use of the cameras.
He credited heightened “self-awareness.”
“When you put a camera on a police officer or anyone, the natural human reaction is that you behave a little more professional. You follow the rules a little more,” he said. “On the other side, if a citizen knows the officer has a camera, that person acts and behaves a little bit more professional, too.”
He said the program cost about $150,000 for the initial 54 cameras, the batteries and the software — all supplied by Taser and Evidence.com.
NICK STERN
Since using the cameras, formal complaints against his officers plunged 88% and officer "use of force" incidents dropped by 59%.
Farrar stopped short of endorsing a similar program for New York City. He said an urban police force 300 times the size of his would face a dramatically different set of financial and policy challenges.
Sgt. Chris Hice said Rialto’s police union helped develop a policy against random review of videotaped officer behavior.
“There are no witch hunts,” Hice said. “We utilize the video when an inquiry is just.”
Hice said he’s convinced officer-worn cameras are the future of crimefighting. Eventually, they’ll be used for victim and witness statements that will be uploaded to an encrypted server accessible to prosecutors, he said.
For any officer who’s reluctant, he had this message: “Have you ever been put on administrative leave for something you didn’t do? Have you ever wished you had video to back your report? This can vindicate you.”
The cameras also promote better customer service, Hice argued.
“I’ve taken a lot of people to the ground, and I’ve stood a lot of them up and brushed them off and said, ‘I’m sorry, but you matched a description. Just understand that someone was the victim of a crime, and if you were that victim, I would work just as hard to solve that crime for you,’ ” he said.
“We’re regular people who make regular mistakes,” he said. “(These cameras) are the first springboard into shaping officer attitudes and making sure we’re making the right decisions.”
1 comment:
Body cameras are easily worn and compact cameras for security purposes. These cameras are specially designed for police officers.
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