More police body cams, more public trust

Department-issued sidearm. Check. Pepper spray. Check. Body camera. Check. Local law-enforcement officers better get used to donning body cams along with the rest of their gear. The time has come.

In light of widespread public concern over police killings of unarmed citizens, public sentiment has begun to turn across South Florida and the state toward arming cops with cameras. Once collectively skeptical, more police departments are turning to body cameras to hold officers accountable, regain public trust and protect good officers doing their jobs from errant or made-up accusations of unjustifiable use of force.

“This community wants body cameras,’’ Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told local leaders at a recent County Commission budget workshop. “I want body cameras. I’m going to ask this commission to pay for them, to fund them.’’

Last year, Israel told the Sun Sentinel Board he was wary of adding cameras to deputy uniforms. He cited some of the same concerns shared by opponents over cost, data storage and public privacy. Listen to Israel now. When, at the same County Commission budget meeting, Commissioner Stacy Ritter contended cameras would promote a perception the public does not trust offi- cers, the sheriff had a ready response.

“That’s like telling the students, ‘You can make the rules in the school and not the principals or the teachers.’”

That’s the point here. Police officers work for the public. The public entrusts individual officers with a badge, lethal weapons and the authority to arrest people. That’s a lot of trust.

Asking officers to record themselves while confronting, arresting or using lethal force against citizens is, in contrast, a small thing to ask.

Opponents like Commissioner Ritter should keep in mind what has happened in Ferguson, New York City and Baltimore. Keep in mind the February death of a man in Coconut Creek in need of medical help who was shot with a stun gun up to four times by several officers for not complying with police commands. The cause of death has been ruled a homicide by the county coroner, but police have yet to reveal details of the incident or why officers felt threatened.

Body camera footage would have gone a long way to provide answers and evidence in the Coconut Creek case and so many others.

Listen to Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo.

“There will be two kinds of police departments in the future, those that start using cameras because something terrible happened, and those that are out in front and realize the great benefit of the devices,” Castillo said during a recent city commission meeting.

The Pembroke Pines City Commission later approved a proposal by Castillo to direct the city attorney and city manager to come up with a pilot program. The list of cities moving in the same direction includes Coral Springs, Davie, Lauderhill and Sunrise.

Last week, Hallandale Beach commissioners unanimously approved a $150,000 one-year pilot program that will outfit 28 patrol officers and sergeants. A task force of officers and top brass spent months crafting the department’s new body camera use rules. Miami-Dade County expects to spend $5 million dollars over the next five years to purchase 500 body cameras.

That’s a strong start. But to unleash the full potential of body cameras as effective policing tools, more police departments need to sign on. Police departments must find consensus on when and how police officers use cameras.

During the regular legislative session, Florida lawmakers considered a law that would have required law agencies to develop policies for use of cameras and the storage of data, among other things. It died.

Gov. Scott did sign into law a bill that created broad public records exemptions for cop body cam videos. Sponsored by Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, the law applies to videos taken inside health care and social service facilities and people’s private homes. In some cases, videos can be released by people captured on the recordings.

Open-government proponents contend the law will make it hard for the public to view police body camera footage without a court order.

Still, Smith contends the law is one more step toward placing more body cameras on police uniforms across the state, the original intention of his law.

Sheriff Israel, who is currently asking for nearly $25 million more in his budget this year than last year, warns Broward commissioners it will cost to outfit his deputies with body cameras. He has not attached a dollar amount yet, but promised 25 body cameras on deputies by the end of year to be paid for by a still-to-be-named vendor.

The BSO deputies’ union is fighting the initiative. In a brief statement, union president Jeff Marano simply stated the organization wanted more time to bargain. Little else was said.

Maybe that’s because the argument against more police body cameras in Florida has gotten tired, exaggerated and indefensible.