But Hollywood is now on the verge of outfitting its cops with tiny cameras that can record what happens during violent shootings, tricky traffic stops and other encounters with the public, whether controversial or run-of-the-mill.
Hollywood is getting a big assist from the federal government to launch the new program: $1.7 million in federal funding to buy 250 body cameras. But you won’t see them on the streets anytime soon.
City officials estimate it will take from eight months to a year to launch the program, which will cost another $572,000 a year to cover ongoing operational and administration costs.
Why did it take so long for Hollywood to embrace the technology?
Some say the high price of buying the cameras and maintaining the footage was the main roadblock.
Reluctance from rank and file officers who initially objected to being filmed while on the job was likely another.
‘Burn a cop’ fears
Jeff Marano, a former union president for the Hollywood police, was not shy about his opposition to body cameras. In 2015, he famously told the South Florida Sun Sentinel they’d only be used to “burn a cop.”
But as body cameras have become part of the uniform for cops across the country, officers have grown less leery of the devices, Marano said.
In many cases, body camera footage has helped clear officers falsely accused of abusing their position of power; in other cases, the footage has helped prove accusers weren’t lying after all.
“It’s become common practice in the United States for police to have body cameras,” Marano said. “In a lot of instances, police are cleared through the use of these cameras.”
Marano says veteran officers might be more reluctant to use the cameras than newcomers to the force.
“They’re not used to having a Big Brother on their shoulder,” Marano said. “And that could be very dangerous. I think senior officers are going to hesitate if they are wearing the camera and that could cause them to get injured.”
Solving the mystery
In November, a teen carjacking suspect wound up dead after a police chase from Hollywood to Miami-Dade County.
The officers involved in that chase are now under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Because they were not wearing body cameras, it’s their word against witnesses who say they saw officers kick the suspect in the head. A video taken by one witness was too grainy to show what really happened.
That’s the kind of case where body camera footage would prove crucial in helping figure out why the teen died in custody, experts say.
Vice Mayor Caryl Shuham says she began pushing for body cameras soon after she was elected in late 2018.
“I found out Hollywood was one of a few agencies in the state that did not have body cameras,” she said. “I met with the chief and the rest is history. In today’s world, I think it’s good backup data to understand encounters that occur between police and the public.”
Commissioner Kevin Biederman agrees that body cameras make sense in today’s world of policing.
“The body cams are there to protect everybody,” he said. “They’re there to protect the public and the police.”
But Biederman argues Hollywood made the right call in waiting on that federal funding to roll in.
“It’s simple to say, ‘Let’s put a body cam on a cop,’” he said. “But there are all these other costs that come with it.”
Then there’s the technology. And that technology, Biederman noted, has only gotten better over the years.
“If you get it early on, you are stuck with updating it later,” he said. “We waited until the technology improved.”
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