BPD answers queries about how to record police officers
Bakersfield Police Chief Greg Terry and members of his command staff answered questions and provided guidance Tuesday on how local residents can safely and legally capture audio and video recordings of law enforcement officers in public spaces.
In a virtual Zoom meeting co-organized by the BPD and Bakersfield Community Policing, a local organization that advocates for police reform and transparency, Terry and several other high-ranking officers explored sensitive issues that have exploded in recent years with the ever-increasing recording capabilities of smart phones.
“This is about strengthening our relationship with the community,” Terry said of the virtual meeting, which was open to the public. “It’s about improving trust and it’s about making our community safer for everyone.”
The meeting, held from 6:30 to 8 p.m., may be another indication that the BPD under Terry’s leadership is working to form more active lines of communication between the department and city residents — while remaining open to needed reform.
On the topic of recording law enforcement officers, the chief was adamant.
“Let me be clear right out of the gate,” he said. “A member of the public has an absolute right
to record officers in public places, or places they have a right to be.”
You cannot be arrested for simply recording an officer, Terry said.
“We work very hard to make sure our personnel understand what that law says.”
It’s also important to understand that individuals do not have the right to record if it directly impedes or interferes with an investigation, said Terry and his command staff.
Those definitions can sometimes be fuzzy, but examples of possible violations may include getting in an officer’s face, intentionally distracting officers from performing their duties, and placing oneself physically between an officer and the subject of an investigation.
Questions from members of the public were taken via email, and several were addressed by members of the command staff.
One questioner asked whether someone who repeatedly behaved toward officers in a disrespectful manner could be arrested.
Capt. Jeremy Grimes, who heads up the department’s investigations division, gave a flat no.
“We can’t revoke someone’s First Amendment rights,” Grimes said.
The department does, however, ask that anyone engaging with an officer remain calm and civil.
“What we do in our training practices is, when we’re out on a scene, there may be an instance where a supervisor or other officer will give a direction, and it should be very specific and say, ‘I need you to stay this distance back,’” Grimes said.
That distance may depend on the circumstances, he said.
Other members of the command staff present at the meeting included Assistant Chief Mike Hale, Capt. Jason Matson, and Capt. Jeremy Blakemore.
“We are doing this to help the community ... this is called transparency,” said Walter Williams, a member of the Bakersfield Community Policing group.
The conversations the group has initiated with the department have sometimes been hard, and have sometimes been emotional, Williams said at the meeting. But the effort has been worthwhile.
Indeed, the honesty and frankness is part of the maturing exchange between the public advocacy group and the police.
Nadine Escalante, another member of the group, said she has worked in probation at juvenile hall. She said she has been “on both sides of the fence.”
She described three incidents she has witnessed involving local police and community members, incidents that she had concerns about.
“Yes, we do have some conversations that are very hard, but very honest and truthful,” she said.
When a bystander captures video of an incident, Escalante suggests that the witness ask to speak with the officer in charge, and possibly obtain a name or badge number. If that’s not possible, follow up with the watch commander or someone else at department headquarters.
Another tough question was asked of Terry on Tuesday — about an incident that made national and international news.
Should witnesses have intervened in the death of George Floyd? the questioner asked. Floyd was murdered last year by police in Minneapolis when one officer knelt on his neck over a period of several minutes. The other officers present declined to intervene.
Witnesses captured video of the incident, but did not physically attempt to stop the killing.
“That’s a very difficult question,” the chief said.
“Certainly, I think, in the context of the videos that I’ve seen from members of the public, they were in that area that we were talking about, that’s (far enough away) that they’re not directly interfering and close enough to see what’s going on.”
They came away with “very valuable information,” Terry said of those who recorded police.
But to the question of physically intervening in an attempt to save Floyd’s life, Terry clearly struggled with an answer, saying he wouldn’t “suggest you do that.”
Calling to the officers may be one way to respond. But Terry said he couldn’t sanction direct action.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “I can’t provide a direct answer.”