Officer-Mounted Cameras for Key West Police Department

SEAN KINNEY

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

The use of officer-mounted cameras recording audio and video of police interactions, and law enforcement accountability in general, have been in the national spotlight following public outrage in Ferguson, Mo.

On Aug. 9, a local cop in St. Louis County shot to death unarmed Michael Brown setting off days of looting, vandalism and police dispersing crowds with tear gas; the FBI also launched its own investigation into the death.

The public discourse on the event, aside from racial context, focuses on accountability for cops in the line of work, including outfitting with body cameras.

“Certainly that has been highlighted lately,” Key West Police Department spokeswoman Alyson Crean told KONK Life, adding that law enforcement has been interested in body cameras “for a number of years. The chief is always interested in being a state-of-the-art department.”

The devices come in a variety of configurations but are essentially tiny cameras placed on a lapel or eyeglasses even, that capture and store audio and video for review.

On Sept. 8, Police Chief Donie Lee and other officers met with manufacturers from Taser and Coban Technologies for product demonstrations.

“We’re really early in the exploratory part of it,” Crean said, “trying to find out how much they run. There’re a lot of variables.”

One such variable is the massive amount of data storage—in house server or cloud-based—needed to archive all the video that would be produced by body cameras.

“When we’re closer to getting a handle on it financially and practically…we would put together a plan,” for purchase.

She said there hasn’t been any detailed budgetary discussion related to purchasing body cameras.

Currently, KWPD uses in car dash-cams, which Crean called “limited,” as well as Taser cameras that start when that instrument is engaged.

“It’s for accountability on all sides,” Crean said of A/V recordings. “It’s what society is looking more towards. It comes in handy in the courtroom, it comes in handy for the officer and it comes in handy for the person that’s pulled over. It’s a reality check for everybody.”

This week the Anaheim, Calif., police department followed the lead of cop shops, including in St. Louis County, and will start using the Taser Axon by April.

That model, produced by the same company that makes the handheld shock devices already used in Key West, was tested out by Chief Lee this week.

The unit goes for $599, according to the company’s website.

Larry Beaver, executive director of the Key West Citizen Review Board, said that the independent appointed body is in favor of using body cameras.

The CRB was created in 2002 by amendment to the city charter. The appointed seven-member panel hears allegations made against police and recommends policy changes or disciplinary action to the KWPD.

“What has happened in the past is we’ve had cases decided by the I-Cop,” Beaver said, referencing the department’s in-vehicle cameras.

“If we don’t have that audio and video, we have a hard time deciding. If the money is there, we think it would be advantageous. The cost of the cameras and daily upkeep is exorbitant but it only takes one lawsuit.”

“The fact of the matter is,” Crean said, “in this day and age people are more immediate. They want visuals, whether it’s in court or you have a complaint about an officers. It’s come to be more of what we expect and have in our daily lives.”

“It’s a logical next step. It’s a better way to upgrade our department.”

Cut: Key West Police Department Chief Donie Lee demos the Taser Axon, a new type of body camera that would record audio and video of police interactions. The unit sells for $599.

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