City will gain from full use of body cams

THE fatal shootings last year of Dustin Pigeon and Magdiel Sanchez underscore the potential value of police body cameras and the importance of getting Oklahoma City’s officers outfitted with these devices as soon as possible.

It was expected, when the city council approved the police department’s request for the cameras in February 2015, that the devices would be widely used by now. That hasn’t happened, for several reasons, although it shouldn’t be much longer before they’re an everyday part of the job.

The cameras can help answer any number of questions related to police officers’ interaction with the public, which is why community activists are so eager to see them used extensively. That restlessness is understandable.

Pigeon, 29, was shot and killed Nov. 15 by Oklahoma City police Sgt. Keith Sweeney. In investigating the case, District Attorney David Prater could view body camera footage from the first two officers who responded to the call and found Pigeon holding a lighter and threatening suicide.

Sweeney was the third officer to arrive. He said he fired his weapon because Pigeon was holding a knife “and I felt like my life was in danger.” Review of the body cam footage led Prater to determine that Sweeney had “crossed the line and, in fact, broke the law.” He charged Sweeney with second-degree murder.

Sanchez, 34, was shot and killed by police Sept. 19. Police said Sanchez, who was deaf and mentally disabled, aggressively approached two officers while wielding a steel pipe. Neighbors said they yelled at the officers that Sanchez was deaf and couldn’t understand their commands.

Neither officer had a body cam. Thus, Prater had to weigh other evidence, including video from a security camera on a neighboring house that didn’t capture the shooting. After a three-month investigation, he cleared the officers of wrongdoing.

It was a judgment call— one that may have been easier had body cams been worn. But there aren’t enough cameras to go around.

The police department began a pilot program in January 2016, outfitting 100 officers. A challenge by the police union led to the program being suspended several months later. The union and the department settled their differences later in the year, and the program resumed.

The department had 160 body-worn cameras on hand earlier this month. By the middle of February, it plans to have 345, which would be enough to outfit a full shift of officers and allow them to be handed over to the next shift.

Supervisors are going through training this month. Officers will have a 90-day grace period for unintentionally failing to activate their cameras when required.

Police Chief Bill Citty says he understands why some are frustrated about the delays in getting the system up and running, but “we want to make as few mistakes as possible during the initial implementation.”

“We will be better off in the long run,” Citty said. He’s right. His officers, and the public, stand to gain from this move — once it finally happens in full.