As some police departments begin eyeing the use of officer body cameras, the chiefs of police of Park Ridge and Niles are a bit more hesitant to fully embrace the new technology immediately.
For Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski, establishing clear legal guidelines on the use of such cameras must come before any widespread usage occurs.
“I think body cameras will be the equipment officers will have in the future, but I would tend to wait [to use them] until the [state] legislature deals with this issue,” Kaminski said.
The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, on which Kaminski serves as a member of the board of officers, has been studying the use of body cameras for about the last two years and working with lobbyists to get state laws passed so the cameras can be used by law enforcement, Kaminski said.
He called the cameras another way to show the public that “we are accountable and we are responsible.”
“We have the cameras in cars and the next extension of that would be the body cameras,” he explained.
But a number of legal questions must be answered first, the chief said. The first involves the state’s so-called eavesdropping law. New rules signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn late last year make it legal to record police officers who are speaking to members of the public as part of their police duties, but the law does not specifically address body cameras.
Niles Acting Police Chief Dennis McEnerney also believes body cameras may have a place in law enforcement, but for now, like, Kaminski, he believes guidelines need to be established and costs determined.
“It may be a thing of the future, but right now it’s not a priority [for Niles],” he said.
McEnerney focused on the potential cost of the cameras — particularly related to the storage of what could quickly amount to thousands of hours of video.
“From what I understand, it’s quite expensive at this point,” he said. “We’d have to review it a little bit more before we make a decision.”
But both Kaminski and McEnerney believe cameras can be beneficial to their respective police departments. Both referenced the current use of squad car dashboard cameras and how they are beneficial when complaints regarding an officer’s conduct during traffic stops are made.
“I think this is good for law enforcement,” Kaminski said. “With traffic stops, when we get a complaint we go right to that camera and it validates what the officer did 99.9 percent of the time, I would say. The [body] cameras would offer another check and balance to show to the public we are accountable and we are responsible.”
McEnerney said in-car cameras have “helped officers before” when complaints have been lodged, but he is not yet convinced that body cameras are a requirement for officers right now.
“My goal is to protect my officers against complaints and we take civilian complaints seriously,” McEnerney said. “If there was such a demand for [the cameras], if the department was receiving a tremendous amount of complaints, we’d have to do something. But at this point in time I don’t see an immediate need for it.”
State Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge) said legislation concerning body cameras has been proposed in Springfield, though he has not yet read the text of the bill. One question he has is whether the footage from the cameras would be made available to the public and media organizations through the Freedom of Information Act.
“I don’t know what this means for the privacy of citizens,” he said.
The cost of the cameras could also be burdensome on departments, particularly when Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed cuts in state funding to municipalities, Kotowski said.
“I’m all for technology to improve government-related services, including technology to help get a better understanding and improve accountability for the people working in public safety,” he said. “But I’m very concerned [body camera] legislation would impose an unfunded mandate on municipalities right now.”
Rep. Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) said if the bill legislating body cameras comes up for a vote, he will support it.
“I think it protects both the individual and the police officers against charges that are false,” he said. “It also protects the individual because there would be a recording of what was actually happening.”
Moylan added that he would like see the results of the Chicago Police Department’s pilot program as well.
Chicago police officers are testing out body cameras in some areas of the city. The devices they use are clipped to their vests and can be activated with the click of a button. Officers are instructed to record just about all their interactions with citizens from start to finish even if the citizen doesn’t want to be recorded.
Contributing: Jeremy Gorner Chicago Tribune
Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer
