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Body Cameras Not a 'Cure-All' for Law Enforcement, Officials Say

A grand jury decision in the death of a Staten Island, N.Y., man has cast doubt on the role video evidence plays.

(TNS) -- The push for body cameras for police officers grew after a Missouri grand jury on Nov. 24 decided not to indict an officer in the shooting death of an unarmed teen, with supporters saying video would have helped clear up what happened.

A grand jury decision in the death of a Staten Island, N.Y., man a week later has cast doubt on the role video evidence plays. It also brought into focus the complexities surrounding body cameras and video technology.

Experts say even the most advanced models provide a limited view of an incident. Most cameras are attached to a fixed point on the body and won't shed light on what happens beyond its line of sight.

In addition, body cameras aren't exempt from technical malfunction or human error, such as an officer forgetting to turn the device on.

After the Staten Island grand jury's decision Dec. 3 not to indict a police officer for putting a prohibited chokehold on a man who died from it -- which was videotaped by a bystander -- Seth Stoughton, an assistant law professor at the University of South Carolina, took to Twitter to warn that body cameras, though useful, are not infallible.

One of his concerns stated that even wide-angle cameras would only catch a portion of events from a fixed view. Richmond County School Safety and Security Chief Alfonzo Williams said the limited view provides little insight on the environment in which an incident takes place.

"It doesn't take into account the knowledge skills and abilities of the perpetrator or of the officer. It's another tool on the belt to use," Williams said. "It needs to be used in conduction with eyewitnesses and training."

The height of an officer also plays a role in the camera's effectiveness, Hephzibah Police Chief Dwayne Flowers said. A short officer equipped with a chest-mounted body camera might not be able to fully capture the actions of a much taller perpetrator. In those instances, Flowers said, the camera might be unable to substantiate claims made by the officer or suspect.

Stoughton also warned that malfunctions are bound to happen, and yet another stated people will argue over what the video actually shows.

"Was a suspect tensing to run or to fight," he said in a tweet.

Lt. Lewis Blanchard said there will also be instances where law enforcement officers simply forget to turn on the camera. Life and death decisions are made in fractions of a second, Blanchard said, and turning on the camera might not be the deputies first priority.

Stoughton, a former police officer, said he thinks cameras will prove to be a wonderful tool for police

officers, but it's far from a "cure-all" for law enforcement. Departments shouldn't stray away from their community policing initiatives, he said.

"I think from the civilian perspective, the slightly irrational hope is that body cameras will prevent officers from engaging in excessive force, and when officers do engage in this conduct, that a body camera will be a fool-proof way of holding them accountable," he said.

That's why agencies like the Richmond County Sheriff's Office are hoping to shine more light on the new technology before misinformation takes hold, Blanchard said.

"What we don't want is a society where if it didn't happen on video, it didn't occur," he said. "The officer's word would mean nothing in court, and that's kind of the direction we're heading, it seems like. We understand it, but the cameras are going to fail at times."

In the weeks after the Ferguson, Mo., grand jury's decision not to indict former police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, many called on police agencies to introduce the cameras.

Their pleas were heard in Washington.

According to recent Associated Press reports, the White House felt the cameras would help law enforcement build rapport with the community while working to resolve disputes between officers and witnesses like those in Ferguson.

President Obama proposed a $263 million spending package to promote the use of body cameras and expand training for officers. About $75 million of the package would be go towardthe purchase of cameras.

In November, the Augusta Commission approved Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree's request to use $152,500 from a firearm auction to secure new equipment for his department. About $62,000 will go to buy 420 body cameras and extra memory storage.

Blanchard said the sheriff's office has formed a council to create a departmental policy for their use. The council has worked extensively with the city's information technology department to determine which model of camera best suits the department as well as the most viable video storage option.

Also to be addressed are questions of video quality, download speeds and employee privacy issues, Blanchard said.

With the equipment, the sheriff's office would become the largest local agency to use body cameras.

Police departments in Waynesboro and Hephzibah, and public safety departments at the Richmond County Board of Education and Georgia Regents University have used body cams for years.

Flowers and Williams both say the cameras have proven successful in keeping officers accountable. Flowers has used previous recordings to discredit complaints against his officers, and Williams said his department has used the cameras as evidence against suspects.

Todd Powell-Williams, an associate professor in GRU's Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Work, said research shows the cameras can be effective when used properly. Citing a recent report by the Police Foundation, Powell-Williams said it's clear that body cameras play at least a small role in curtailing incidents of use of force.

After a yearlong field experiment involving the use of body cameras by Rialto Police Department in California, the foundation reported that its findings "suggest more than a 50 percent reduction in the total number of incidents of use of force reported compared to control conditions."

"The basic idea is that when police wear body cameras they become more self-aware of the fact they're being videotaped," Powell-Williams said. "The idea is that will make them think a little bit about what they're encountering, think back to standard operating procedure and departmental policies, and that's going to alter their behavior."

©2014 The Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, Ga.)