Laguna Police Add a Video Camera to the Uniform

By Andrea Adelson | LB Indy

Laguna Beach police Officer James Michaud set out on patrol with a flat rectangular camera affixed to his chest, testing out gear that law enforcement agencies around the country are now adopting. This week, the city of Los Angeles became the latest, announcing the purchase of 7,000 of the body cameras for its officers.

So far, Michaud has learned to adjust his body position to avoid filming the foreheads of subjects of shorter stature, to realign the camera after removing a seat belt and that its video was superior to that captured from a patrol car during a field sobriety test.

Michaud has tested three cameras and is waiting for a fourth before he will report his findings, said Capt. Jason Kravetz, pointing out that body cameras create other issues, such as the need for archival storage, securing the video and new policies about their use should the department obtain the gear.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama proposed new funding for police body cameras and training meant to help improve relations between police departments and minority communities since the shooting death of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Waves of unrest and the conflicting accounts of what happened have propelled use of body cameras by law enforcement into the national debate.

“We have been watching this technology for several years.  With the president’s interest, there will hopefully be additional grant funding available in the future,” said Laguna’s retiring police chief, Paul Workman.

While the 84-person Laguna Beach department has not been subject to scrutiny over excessive use-of-force recently, two officer-involved shootings in 2007 and in 2010 were extensively investigated, but neither resulted in judgments against the city or the officers, City Attorney Phil Kohn said.

Jim Keegan, a Laguna Beach resident long involved with the town’s homeless population, is unsure body cameras will make an impact locally. “It will force me to clean up my language,” said Keegan, only half joking. He thinks hiring officers that live in town and understand its culture would go farther towards resolving friction between civilians and police.

Depending on the outcome of the field test, the department will consider obtaining more body cameras and determine the best way to fund their acquisition, Workman said. Besides Los Angeles, officers in Anaheim and Fullerton and at least 35 other cites nationwide are also using the cameras, says supplier Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz.

Body-worn cameras have a civilizing effect, resulting in improved behavior among both police officers and citizens, says a summary of five studies in a 2014 Department of Justice report. For instance, in Rialto, Calif., a city of 100,000, where with half of the 54 uniformed patrol officers wearing cameras, the department over all experienced an 80 percent decline in complaints filed against officers, compared with the 12 months before the study, which concluded in February 2013. Officers used force nearly 60 percent less during the period compared to the same time before the study.

“If I was still a police chief, I’d be outfitting everyone with body cameras and make it as transparent as possible,” said Jim Bueermann, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation, which fosters innovation in policing. “That technology is going to be as commonplace as handcuffs or radios,” Bueermann predicted.

Body-camera footage is proving valuable in training officers how to de-escalate tense situations, especially with the mentally ill, he said.

Even so, funding more technology when the Laguna Beach department is short several officers seems like a misplaced priority, said Larry Bammer, president of the police employee union, who was unaware of the department’s body-camera test before being contacted by the Indy.

In Laguna Beach, sworn officers and non-sworn animal services and parking service officers already carry digital audio recorders. Worn on their belts, the recorders are activated during investigations and public contacts in accordance with the department’s established written policy. Everything that is recorded is uploaded to servers at the station for evidentiary purposes, Workman said.

“We don’t have to force our employees to use the recorders; they want to use them,” he said. “They recognize that the equipment protects them from frivolous litigation and personnel complaints.” Often, an individual with a complaint about an officer’s conduct recalls the circumstances differently and hearing a playback of the recording resolves the matter, Workman said.

During his 13-year tenure as police chief in Redlands, Buermann said no officer ever intentionally disabled a recorder. Sometimes they failed to turn them on when something happened quickly, he said. The few instances where the recording caught bad behavior that was disciplined typically involved profanity, he said.

In 2014, citizens filed four formal complaints against Laguna officers and another four were opened internally, said Kravetz. The latter include infractions of department policy revealed by recordings, which were reviewed for other reasons, he said. Other than the officer-involved shootings, no other personnel matter was of a serious nature in recent years so as to require an external investigation, he said.

For at least 15 years, Laguna’s 10 patrol vehicles and two motorcycles have also been equipped with video systems. The windshield-mounted video camera is activated when an officer turns on the overhead lights or manually turns the camera on, Workman said. The wireless system automatically downloads to department servers when the patrol vehicles get into range, Kravetz said.

“I can assure you that these systems are extremely valuable later in both criminal and civil trials. Juries may question testimony, but it is hard to dispute a recorded conversation or video of someone’s actions,” Workman said.

Bammer agrees, but thinks the department’s existing recording devices are adequate and that resources could be better spent recruiting and retaining staff.

For law enforcement agencies, body-camera recordings will present new archiving and cost challenges, though vendors are emerging to fill hardware and training needs, Buermann said.

As important is introspection by commanders to consider why cameras have become central to the discussion of police integrity and trust, Buermann said. “It’s a relationship issue between police and the community they serve,” he said.