Lexington has an authorized strength of 633 police officers. Roughly 430 have been issued body cameras. A June Lexington Herald-Leader story found about one-third of police officers do not have a body camera.
Officers who currently have body-worn cameras are those that have frequent interactions with the public, including officers and sergeants assigned to the patrol bureau, uniformed detectives and officers in the narcotics units. Those who don’t have body cameras are typically in supervisory or administrative roles with no or limited interaction with the public.
On Tuesday, the Lexington council gave preliminary approval for an application for a $135,250 federal grant that would help pay for body cameras for those remaining officers and some civilian police employees.
“Our department recorded more than 300,000 body-worn camera videos last year,” said Police Chief Lawrence Weathers. “As this technology has become more normalized, body-worn cameras are something that the public and officers have come to expect. We are working to meet those expectations by equipping all sworn officers, including myself.”
Lexington police started using body-worn cameras four years ago.
In 2016, the Urban County Council approved a $2.6 million, five-year contract with Taser International to equip the initial officers with cameras.
Lexington’s Black Faith leaders have called on the city to increase the number of police with body cameras. The local NAACP, which pushed for the purchase of the cameras in 2016, has also demanded the city equip all officers with cameras.
Gorton said adding more body-worn cameras is expensive but worth the cost.
“Body-worn cameras are essential. They are a tool every police officer needs,” Gorton said. “It’s expensive, but it’s money well spent.”
Body-cam videos an issue in KY police violence cases
Lack of body-worn camera videos has been a concern in two high-profile police shootings in Kentucky in recent months.
When Louisville police officers shot and killed Breonna Taylor while serving a no-knock warrant in mid-March, there was no body-worn camera footage. Similarly, Louisville Metro Police officers failed to activate body cameras in the shooting that killed restaurant owner David McAtee during protests over Taylor’s death and other police-involved slayings across the country.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad was fired after it was revealed there was no body camera footage of the McAtee shooting.
Lack of body camera footage has also been an issue in Lexington.
In February 2019, former Lexington Police Chaplain Donovan Stewart was working off-duty at the Fayette Mall when he responded to a report of a group of Black teenagers allegedly being disorderly.
A February federal lawsuit filed against Stewart and the city of Lexington alleges a video shot by a bystander shows Stewart punching an autistic Black teenager in the face and head. The lawsuit accuses Stewart of continuing to hit the boy after he was restrained on the mall floor with both hands “under control” and not posing a threat.
Stewart has alleged the teen hit him first. The teen in the incident was charged, and the case was in juvenile court. Juvenile court proceedings are not open to the public.
Because Stewart was a police chaplain he was not issued a body camera. Department policy says all police officers who are issued a body camera must use them on off-duty assignments.
A second off-duty officer present had a body camera but failed to turn it on during the altercation.
Stewart was reassigned and later retired in July. He has sued protesters — who have used the incident to call for more police accountability — for defamation, alleging they made up malicious lies about Stewart and his family.
‘Enforce proper use’ of cameras, Black faith leader says
Rev. Nathl Moore, a pastor at First African Baptist Church and member of the Black leaders who called for more body cameras, said the announcement was a “good first step to improving accountability.”
Moore said the department must also make sure officers turn the body cameras on.
“They must also make sure that they enforce the proper use of cameras,” Moore said.
Failure to activate body-worn cameras is a problem, but the number of failures has declined over time, Lexington police records show.
In 2018, the first year it was tracked, the department reported 367 activation failures. In 2019, that number dropped to 329, a 10 percent decline.
From Jan. 1 to May 31, there were 86 activation failures. That’s down nearly 48 percent from the same time period in 2019 when there were 166 failures.
Some of those activation failures are not human error but mechanical problems with the equipment, police officials have said.
Council is expected to give the grant request final approval Thursday.
©2020 the Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
