Before the shootings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Leon Ford Jr. in Pittsburgh. The city’s public safety department started testing arming Police officers with cameras to record all events during arrests.
Not to protect one side or another during confrontations, but to make an unimpeachable record.
“When they tell a citizen they are being recorded, that changes the dynamic [of the situation]” Toler said
In 2012, the city of Pittsburgh bought 50 cameras and used them until February 2013 until realizing that this violates the state’s wiretap laws.
In February, former Governor Tom Corbett amended the law allowing the use of the cameras.
“Currently only 35 of the 50 cameras are deployed on some of the bike and motorcycle officers and they must inform citizens when they are in any kind of encounters with them,” said Sonya Toler the Pittsburgh’s Public Information Officer.
The cameras being used are called the AXON Flex made by the company Taser International known for the stun guns police also use.
The company based in Scottsdale, Arizona started by creating cameras for stun guns in 2005, it would capture the instances in which it was aimed at or deployed on someone.
Taser International created the AXON Flex in 2009 a camera that can be attached to an officer’s sunglasses. It was the first body camera the company made for law enforcement.
“We wanted [the cameras} to be a neutral observer when force is used and a lawsuit was filed with an unnecessary force it would provide clear evidence for the public,” said Steve Tuttle, the Vice President of Communications at Taser International.
As of the second quarter more than 12,000 police departments use their equipment for recording police interaction, with orders as large as 615 in cities like Fort Worth, Texas.
95 plus percent of Law Enforcement video has resulted in exoneration of officers. With the creation of cell phone cameras, civilians primarily record video of the police using force, but not why they are using force.
“We wanted [the cameras} to be a neutral observer when force is used and a lawsuit was filed with an unnecessary force it would provide clear evidence for the public,” said Tuttle in a Phone Interview.
Pennsylvania is one of 12 states in the United States of America to have a wiretap law. Pittsburgh Police also wear mics, and that is another part of the Pennsylvania wiretap law. There has to be two party consent if an officer does an audio recording.
Prior to the law being amended the only cameras that were used by the police were the ones inside a police vehicle.
“The video alone is not enough to show exactly what is going on, so we need the audio and on regular patrols they go in a private residence or another situation and the cameras are still running, we don’t want our officers to be disciplined for breaking some sort of law,” said Toler in a phone interview.
Taser International has seen the two party consent rule affect the use of it’s product in a lot of states, including Pennsylvania, but legislatures around the country are making changes.
“There’s a challenge on getting the these items that the public and police want to wear and yet there’s two party consent and that’s very challenging, many of the legislature are resolving this, technology is changing so rapidly, and they adjust to the changes”, said Tuttle.
Right now the officers in Pittsburgh with the cameras are giving feedback to the police chief that the cameras are a form of officer safety.
An officer said this but were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to comment to the press.
“It can be good and bad, it could help figure out whether suspicious activity, but people could play into the camera and not allow an officer to be comfortable doing their jobs.”
This story was unpublished but used for credit in a reporting class.