Footage from the body cameras, supporters said, would have left a clearer picture of what happened.
Now, after five years of roiling controversy, police are about to test such cameras.
In June, the department will launch a 60-day pilot program to evaluate two different video cameras that will be worn by patrol officers who volunteer, Chief Brian Owens said.
“It will be interesting to see what impact the body cameras have. Certainly, as a tool for collecting video evidence of an incident they could be valuable at times,” Owen said.
The two incidents that started body camera discussions occurred two years apart.
In 2014, a melee at Kokopellis, a now-closed downtown nightclub at 124 Fourth St., led to allegations police beat patrons. Troy police said an FBI review of the incident and an internal affairs investigation revealed no evidence of brutality. The only video of the incident came from cameras installed in the bar.
The other was the 2016 shooting death of Edson Thevenin, a drunken driving suspect who was fatally shot by Sgt. Randall French. Within days, then Rensselaer County District Joel E. Abelove presented the case to a grand jury and granted immunity to French. French said his life was in danger when he opened fire but an investigation by the state Attorney General's office contradicted the officer's version of events and criticized the investigation conducted by the city police department. City street cameras in the area were not working. The report from the AG's office recommended officers start wearing body cameras.
“It’s going to be useful for people to see the perspective of the officers on certain incidents, especially a use-of-force incident or a confrontational incident to see how our officers are treated or what they deal with on a daily basis," Owens said.
"That could be eye opening for some.”
Troy had planned to launch a body-camera and dash-board-camera pilot program in 2015. But money for that effort was spent on new police cars. Delays in writing a policy for the use of the cameras further delayed their use.
As a result, Troy lags behind the two other large urban police departments in the Capital Region. Albany police officers have worn them since 2017, while all of Schenectady’s patrol officers will soon have them.
Troy police will test body cameras from Panasonic and Axon. Owens said officers will be asked to volunteer to take part in the pilot program. The city will use the results from the trial to decide which company's cameras are purchased. Owens said it would cost $200,000 annually to supply about 100 body cameras to the patrol division and to store the recordings in off-site servers.
Although the trial period is coming up, the city must still negotiate with the Troy Police Benevolent Association over the long-term deployment of the cameras. The two sides have not spoken in months, according to Officer Nick Laviano, the PBA president.
Laviano is skeptical about the city’s commitment to body cameras. He noted the city hasn’t negotiated with the union and questions whether the city will properly maintain the equipment.
“The city has neglected to meet with the PBA on this program. The PBA wrote a letter to Mayor [Patrick] Madden on March 19 to meet regarding the negotiations and proper implementation of the body cameras but we have yet to hear from him,” Laviano said.
“Unfortunately, the city's track record with introducing and maintaining new technology is subpar at best. Just take a look at the city cameras. Over half of them do not work even after I brought this to their attention over a year ago,” Laviano said.
“My concerns are the city will do what they always do. Initially make a big [public relations] thing about the implementation of body cameras and after six months neglect that program monetarily just like the pools, the golf course, the city cameras, the ice rink and the list goes on and on,” Laviano said.
Both Owens and Laviano worry the cameras may impede communication with the public. Civilians, they said, may be reluctant to speak to officers if they think they are being recorded.
Madden called the pilot program a positive development.
“This process will help guide the department’s next steps in a larger deployment of new technologies to help officers address the challenges of modern policing," he said in a prepared statement released by his office.
Owens said a full roll-out is on hold until the city and the union reach an agreement. A draft policy will determine how the cameras are used, which officers they are assigned to, when they can be turned off and how long recordings are stored. The chief said video could be held from 90 days to a year based on the incidents the recordings capture and the severity of the crimes that are documented.
©2019 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
