The first wave has been deployed.
The Houston Police Department handed out Thursday the first wave of 4,100 body cameras being distributed to all first-line officers over the next 12 to 18 months, initiating a new policy that will require officers to wear the cameras for all law-enforcement related activities.
About 200 officers – those on duty at Central Patrol – received their body cameras Thursday. Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Acting Police Chief Martha I. Montalvo, District Attorney Devon Anderson and several city council members at a press conference at Central Patrol to announce the new policy.
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Under the plan, officers are required to wear the camera on their chest, so it is clearly visible to anyone interacting with law enforcement. They’re expected, according to HPD’s policy, to keep the devices in standby mode and then to activate them before arriving at any call, initiating a traffic stop, detaining or arresting someone, conducting a search, interviewing witnesses, or engaging in a pursuit, among other interactions. Officers are not permitted to turn the cameras on and off at their own discretion.
The footage will be downloaded and stored on a server at the station and transferred to a disaster recovery site. Video involving an incident classified as Class B or above will be retained for 10 years, or until the statute of limitations expires. For some crimes, including homicides, the statute never expires.
Class C traffic violations will see footage stored for one year. Informational cases, in which an officer interacts with a citizen but no crime is committed, will have footage stored for 180 days.
Right now, only first-line officers are receiving cameras, though the department hopes to extend the policy to officers in Investigations after the full rollout, Skillern said. Officers in the traffic enforcement division, who have a high volume of interactions with citizens, will receive cameras next. Then, it’s southeast patrol, followed by a different patrol group each month. The staggered distribution is meant to handle any training and technical issues.
Questions still remain about how the camera data will be stored and how it will be accessed. No one questions the utility of these things, though. Let’s see what they can do, and let’s make sure that any questions that arise get answered in a way that promotes transparency. The Press has more.