Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
The Redwood City Police Department will begin the limited implementation of the use of body cameras on its officers starting in May, with the purpose of documenting on video the procedures and actions carried out by the police force, as well as to improve its practices in the interaction with citizens.
This was announced by the chief of the Redwood City Police Department, Dan Mulholland, who stated that it will be until June, when the use of the body camera will be fully deployed to all officers.
While the city was fortunate enough to receive federal grant funding for a portion of the total cost of the body cameras, he said, hardware and software for their operation still need to be installed and are 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 stressed that the task of training will not be easy, as the COVID-19 pandemic complicates it.
"We have experienced some significant setbacks that are related to COVID-19, and that is the 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, this is 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 the software configuration with servers and cloud storage will be carried out; in March, the recruitment for the position of body camera program administrator will be opened; while in April the body camera manager will be hired and the installation of the system for the operation of the devices will be completed.
According to the presentation by the police chief, data suggests that the use of body cameras by law enforcement has proven to be 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 perspective 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 process; before, during or after a contact.
In this regard, he explained that the videos collected by the agents will be downloaded through software to servers, and then placed in a cloud that can be accessed by the public, with prior authorization, unless the event 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, whether a modification was made or a file was saved, so the security of this documentation will be a priority.
Finally, Dan Mulholland said that body cameras should not be expected only to lead to dramatic reductions in the use of force or complaints or other large-scale changes in police behavior, as this starts with the recruitment of personnel with "strong morals and ethics.
"We want to make sure that they are going to be the right person who is 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 police chief, 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."
Likewise, 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 belt, but also with the mental skills that will enable 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 workforce. 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 this regard, he recalled that, in the last 10 years, Redwood City has had very few eventualities where the police have used force, placing it 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.
Thus, 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 funds come from the Police Department's budget.
