Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The Redwood City Police Department will begin limited implementation of body cameras on its officers beginning in May to document on video the procedures and actions taken by the police force, as well as to improve its practices in interacting with citizens.
This was reported by the chief of the Redwood City Police Department, Dan Mulholland, who said that it will be until June, when the use of the body camera is fully deployed in all its officers.
And while the city was fortunate enough to receive federal grant funding for a portion of the total cost of the body cameras, he said, it still needs to install hardware and software for their operation, which is expected to be ready by April.
During a virtual briefing on the Redwood City Police Department's new body camera policy Wednesday, Chief Mulholland pointed out that members of the police force also need to be trained in the proper use of the devices.
However, he noted that the task of training will not be easy, as the COVID-19 pandemic complicates it.
"We've experienced some significant setbacks that are related to COVID-19, and that's timelines, something as simple as bringing in an outside provider from another state to come in, get 50 people in a room and have them get instruction in one day and then another 50 in another day. Obviously, that's very difficult to do right now in the current crisis environment, so there is the potential for delays," he stressed.
Thus, he explained, this month will be the software configuration with servers and storage in the "cloud", in March, will open the recruitment for the position of administrator of body cameras programs, while in April will be hired the manager of body cameras and finalize the installation of the system for the operation of the devices.
According to the presentation by the police chief, data suggests that the use of body cameras by law enforcement has proven effective in reducing violent confrontations during law enforcement contacts and complaints against officers.
He also detailed that body-worn camera recordings provide contextual documentation of police encounters and have become an important tool for increasing public confidence by transparently reviewing an officer's performance and documenting a police contact or law enforcement action.
However, he stressed, body camera recordings cannot provide all the information necessary to make a fair and accurate judgment about police contacts or law enforcement activity.
Indeed, Chief Mulholland emphasized that two-dimensional video evidence provides a limited view of a police encounter and must be considered along with all other available evidence, such as witness statements, independent officer observations, forensic video analysis and documentary evidence, when assessing the appropriateness of an officer's actions.
The above, after even with multiple camera coverage of an encounter, a video cannot interpret what an officer may have heard, felt, observed or been informed through personal knowledge or specific information provided that helped inform their decision making process; before, during or after a contact.
In that sense, he explained that the videos collected by the agents will be downloaded through software to servers, and then be available in a cloud that can be accessed by the public, with prior authorization, unless the fact is under investigation.
He also explained that anyone who accesses any video made by the police will leave "a trail of crumbs" that will allow them to know their name, the video reviewed, the time of access, if a modification was made or a file was saved, so the security of this documentation will be a priority.
Finally, Dan Mulholland says that body cameras should not be expected only to lead to dramatic reductions in use of force or complaints or other large-scale changes in police behavior, but that this starts with recruiting personnel with "strong morals and ethics.
"We want to make sure they're going to be the right person that's going to provide public safety service to this community ... maintaining very high standards and making sure we get good quality people," he said.
He noted that, as chief of police, nearly 86 percent of his promotions to the rank of sergeant "have been of a person who is of color, LGBTTTIQ+, a female officer, or some combination of the three."
Similarly, he explained that "having the right person in the Police Department, serving our community, with such a diverse workforce, can reduce the opportunities or potential for officers to use force in the field."
However, he stressed that this is not all, as it is necessary to ensure that personnel are not only properly equipped with physical tools or on their belts, but with mental skills that will allow them to contain or resolve a crisis.
"More than 90 percent of our officers and 92 percent of our communications operators have received crisis intervention training, as well as gender, racial and cultural sensitivity training," he said. "We want to make sure that we have a well-trained and well-equipped staff. And there is also an audit that takes place along the way, we have a Use of Force Review Committee that looks at situations where force is applied. We do an analysis.
In that regard, he recalled that, over the past 10 years, Redwood City has had very few instances where police have used force, ranking well below the state and even national average.
"The Redwood City Police Department is committed to the belief that audio and video recordings captured by a body-worn camera (BWC) provide an unbiased documentation of a member of the Department's daily encounters with the public," states a new body-worn camera policy document issued by the Redwood City Police Department.
Notably, in 2016, a San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury recommended that agencies not using body cameras implement a plan to obtain them, but lack of funding delayed their acquisition, according to the city.
Two years later, the Redwood City Police Department received $150,146 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to implement a body camera program that meets federal, state and local guidelines.
So, in November 2020, the City Council approved a $612,605 contract with AXON Enterprises, Inc. for the purchase of 100 body cameras, plus related services, however, the majority of the funding comes from the Police Department budget.
