Since the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, many police departments have equipped patrol cars dashboard cameras. Many have equipped the officers themselves with body cameras. The idea is that police-involved shootings will automatically be recorded.
The record would protect cops who acted lawfully, and protect the public from unlawful shootings. But an awful lot of police-involved shootings are not recorded, even though the cameras are in place.
Shaun King’s Tracker
Shaun King, who writes for the New York Daily News and covers police brutality in depth, has been tracking police-involved shootings.
He has written about the number of these incidents in which the officer or officers involved had a body camera, a dash camera, or both, but somehow the camera was turned off, was never turned on, or wasn’t functioning.
In several instances, the officer turned off the camera just before the shooting and turned it on again afterward.
Documented Examples
In February 2015, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Officer Jeremy Dear shot 19-year-old Mary Hawkes, who was accused of auto theft. He admitted that the camera was unplugged until just after the shooting.
On September 11, 2016, a District of Columbia Metropolitan police officer shot Terrence Sterling, who was riding a motorcycle. Police claim that Sterling deliberately hit a police car. Other witnesses dispute this. The officer’s camera was not turned on until after the shooting. Sterling died of gunshot wounds to the back and neck. The D.C. Medical Examiner has ruled the death a homicide. The city has released the police video:
In November of 2014, a Spokane, Washington, police officer shot Joseph Hensz, who led police on a lengthy car chase before crashing his car. The shooting took place after the crash. Spokane had just begun a pilot program. The police department had announced that the officers with cameras would have them on all the time except under “extenuating circumstances.” The officer did not turn on his body camera.
New Orleans has been the site of several shootings at which none of the multiple body cameras and dash cameras functioned.
In July 2016, Chicago police shot Paul O’Neal. Although there were at least three separate body cameras, none actually captured the shooting. It appears that the officer who shot O’Neal had his camera turned off. At least some, if not all, of the cameras had working audio.
In 2015, the Chicago Sun Times reported that Chicago police officers threw dozens of microphones onto the roof of the Jefferson Park station. A spokesperson for the police department said that 80 percent of the cameras don’t have working audio:
“Due to operator error, or, in some cases, intentional destruction.”
Danville Dustup
On September 26, 2016, King tweeted that the Danville, Virginia, police department apparently allowed officers to raise the hoods when their cars were pulled over. Of course, the dash camera won’t record anything when the hood is up.
King and others were rather suspicious.
Snopes.com checked it out by calling the Danville police department. The department said via phone and email that the hoods are left open to prevent overheating, or continual heating, which could damage the sensitive electronic equipment in the cars. So, Snopes rated the claim “mostly false.”
The following day, King tweeted:
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/780768814980014080
Featured Image: Screenshot Via Comedy Central Video.
