Many police departments using body cameras
As the city of Columbus prepares to invest $4.5 million on upgrading police body cameras, some other central Ohio law enforcement agencies continue to research the devices. Others say they simply can’t afford it.
In January, Mayor Andrew J. Ginther announced the city’s expenditure in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed Black man by a police officer who did not have his body camera turned on at the time.
There is no statewide tracking of which law enforcement agencies have body camera technology, according to Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Ohio Attorney General’s office.
The Dispatch surveyed 62 law enforcement agencies in central Ohio — Franklin, Delaware, Fairfield, Licking, Madison, Pickaway and Union counties — about body camera usage and policies. A total of 54 agencies, or 87%, responded to the newspaper’s inquiry.
Of those 54 agencies who responded, 33 of them, or about 61%, are currently using body cameras.
An additional 11 agencies, or about 20.5% of respondents, said they are researching body cameras and anticipate having them implemented or purchased sometime in 2021. That includes the Franklin County Sheriff ’s office, which is expediting the acquisition of body cameras in the wake of the fatal shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. by sheriff ’s deputy Jason Meade last December.
The remaining 10 agencies, or about 18.5%, who responded said they do not have body cameras and have no plans to acquire them. In most cases, the agencies reported the cost was too prohibitive. Some law enforcement agencies had only a handful of officers.
Columbus Regional Airport Authority police, whose responsibilities include John Glenn Columbus International
Airport, said body cameras are not worth the cost because surveillance cameras are located throughout the terminal and airport property.
Columbus Division of Police hopes to have its upgraded body camera technology implemented by the end of the year. The upgrades would allow for increased video quality and additional “look-back” features to capture video and audio.
The current cameras, which began being used in 2016, have a look-back that captures video, but not sound, in the 60 seconds before the camera is turned on. That became an issue on Dec. 22 when Columbus police officer Adam Coy shot and killed 47-year-old Andre Hill within seconds of responding with another officer to the scene of a non-emergency disturbance call Dec. 22.
Coy and a female officer who responded to the call did not turn on their body cameras until after Coy fatally shot Hill. The lookback feature captured video of the shooting, but there was no audio of what was said between the officers and Hill, who was emerging from the garage of a home with a cellphone camera held aloft in his left hand when he was shot.
Body camera footage also showed Coy asking the female officer to get him assistance, but neither of them, nor some other officers who arrived shortly after, immediately administered CPR to Hill as he lay dying at the garage entrance. The city later adopted legislation requiring officers in use-offorce situations to render aid when possible.
Coy was fired later that month, a decision that is now being contested, and he has also been charged with murder, felonious assault, and two counts of dereliction of duty.
Of the 33 central Ohio agencies who currently use body cameras, all but one have a look-back feature. And that department — Reynoldsburg police — plans to upgrade its camera technology in 2021. The time frames for how much video is captured on look-back varies in most cases from 30 to 60 seconds, according to the agencies who responded.
Bexley’s cameras, however, capture video and audio for up to two minutes prior to the device being turned on.
Madison Township in Franklin County said its devices are capable of providing a two-minute lookback feature, but that feature had not been turned on for the agency’s cameras.
After the Hill shooting in Columbus, Madison Township said they turned on the feature. However, the agency said issues with battery life developed and the feature had to be turned back off.
Ginther said the city’s new cameras will be able to work with cruiser dash cameras to be allow footage to be transferred remotely, as well as automatically turning the camera on when an officer is dispatched on an emergency run or exits the cruiser.
That technology is similar to what some central Ohio agencies have now. Whitehall Deputy Chief Dan Kelso said the cameras their officers wear are constantly recording and even if an officer doesn’t turn on the camera, a video and audio file can be created from the previous 12 hours of footage captured by the camera.
The governor’s budget proposal also calls for $10 million in grants to be made available for law enforcement agencies to purchase body cameras.
That money could help agencies like Sharon Township, which has 10 full-time officers. Sharon Twp. Chief Donald Schwind told The Dispatch the township doesn’t have the money to buy the cameras and store all the video footage, as well as having someone on staff to handle records requests related to the video files.
But it isn’t just small agencies who could use that money. Newark, one of the largest law enforcement agencies in Licking County, is looking to implement body cameras in 2022 at the earliest for the agency’s patrol officers.
Chief Steve Baum said their agency recently received a $100,000 quote for the cost to purchase 40 body cameras, a number that includes the price of redaction software, warranties and other costs associated with the equipment. Newark currently has more than 60 police officers and is budgeted for up to 73.
“We actually have a quote and are working toward permission to buy them and deploy them, but that would be a process because first of all, it would have to be a line item and it would have to be placed into a budget, and then there would have to be a policy developed, which would come from the state … with the best practices on when to deploy them,” Baum said.
Columbus began using body cameras in 2015, after several other smaller agencies within Franklin County and agencies in some surrounding counties. According to information provided by law enforcement agencies to The Dispatch, Minerva Park and Clinton Township began using body cameras in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
Johnstown, in Licking County, began using body cameras in 2013 and Lithopolis, in Fairfield County, began using body camera technology in 2009 and upgraded in 2014.
Several agencies said they are looking into cameras and expect them to be implemented in 2021 or 2022. The Licking County Sheriff ’s office, the largest law enforcement agency in that county, expects to have body cameras implemented in mid to late 2021.
Other agencies, like the Franklin County Sheriff’s office are continuing to research and make decisions surrounding what type of body camera should be purchased, who would be required to wear one and what sort of technology would be wanted.
Franklin County commissioners set aside $2.5 million in December 2020 for 175 deputies to be outfitted with cameras in 2021.
The sheriff’s office had been considering body cameras for several years, however, the process was accelerated following the shooting of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. on Dec. 4 by Deputy Jason Meade.
The deputy was not wearing a body camera at the time of the shooting. The circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation.
The sheriff ’s office said they are in the process of getting information about costs for cameras from different agencies.