Little Rock police will equip certain officers with wearable cameras for a 30-day tryout period beginning next week, the department said Friday.
Seven Taser-brand body cameras will be assigned to officers in the department's northwest, southwest and downtown divisions, as well as the River Market District and Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport, Adams Field.
It will be the department's first hands-on experience with the devices since Police Chief Kenton Buckner formed a police committee in October to explore their use. Buckner described the cameras, which attach to an officer's uniform or sunglasses, as investigative tools that can increase department transparency. Citing civil unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., he said officer use of force in particular "needs to be recorded."
Body camera manufacturers have reported a surge in demand for the devices in recent years. Jacksonville, Jonesboro, Ward, Beebe, Glenwood and Austin police are among Arkansas law enforcement agencies already using body cameras. North Little Rock police tested the devices in the fall and plan another test.
"It's a tool to capture that moment when an officer is making a decision, whether they're using force or something's gone wrong or there's a discrepancy," Buckner said.
Buckner added that "more often than not," the cameras would show that Little Rock police officers "do the right thing."
Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter said his office informed police that footage taken during the 30-day tryout period will be publicly available under the state's Freedom of Information Act, with the exception of footage related to ongoing criminal investigations.
The American Civil Liberties Union supports police use of body cameras but has raised privacy concerns about the devices. Carpenter said his office didn't give police a recommendation on whether officers should record certain situations and not others, such as encounters with sexual assault victims or children and inside private residences.
"There have been issues raised of this nature, and the way those issues have been addressed [by other police departments] have been officers announcing the cameras are on and officers asking if the cameras may be on," Carpenter said.
The ACLU has also expressed concern over officers' ability to turn off the cameras. The group suggested in a 2013 study that the devices be used in "a framework of strong policies" with an auditing system and measures to prevent video tampering.
Capt. Alice Fulk, who has led the six-person police committee's research, said a usage policy was still being developed for the trial period. She said the department hadn't decided when officers will be required to record. Many agencies require officers to record every public encounter.
"There's going to be some adjustments, obviously, once we go to this," Fulk said. "Our policy may have to be reflective of what the actual camera is able to do."
Fulk couldn't recall the camera model, or models, police will test.
Details were in a contract the department signed with Taser, a law enforcement equipment company, but the document wasn't available for review Friday. Taser is loaning the cameras to the city to try out.
The cameras will be assigned Wednesday and Thursday, Fulk said. Officers will submit daily reports detailing the pros and cons of the devices, and their supervisors will submit weekly reports.
"I think it can help not only the officers, but the citizens as well, if there's any question of what an officer did, didn't do, say or didn't say," Fulk said. "People tend to, in general -- and people, meaning officers and citizens -- they tend to act better if they know they're being video recorded."
Findings by police associations and independent researchers support that sentiment. Studies conducted with police departments in Rialto, Calif., and Mesa, Ariz., in 2012 showed major decreases in officer use of force and complaints against officers after body cameras were equipped.
While an increasing number of law enforcement agencies have shown interest in the devices, the cost has been restrictive for many. Taser advertises its two cameras, the Axon Body and Axon Flex, at $399 and $599, respectively.
Little Rock has roughly 200 patrol officers. Buckner said equipping them wouldn't be nearly as expensive as managing footage from the body cameras. Data costs would run "in the millions of dollars" each year, he said.
City Manager Bruce Moore said during a Little Rock Board of Directors meeting last month that because of financial reasons, the city had to choose between purchasing body cameras or buying additional Taser stun guns for officers. The department began outfitting more officers with Taser stun guns in 2011 and has purchased 200 of the devices since then, at a cost of $449,702.
The city plans to use part of a $6 million loan to purchase an additional 200 Tasers for the department, eventually equipping each of its 551 sworn officers with the weapons.
Buckner said he remains committed to purchasing body cameras.
"We will look into any and every way that we can get assistance to get the body cameras," he said.
Fulk said the committee has looked into federal grants to help pay for the devices. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that more funds will soon be available. It's launching a pilot program to award $20 million in as many as 50 grants to police departments seeking body cameras.
"Every agency will be in line for that," Buckner said.
Metro on 05/02/2015