Sheriff's Lt. discusses body cameras at meeting

At his most recent Community Advisory Group meeting on Thursday, March 12, Lt. David Gilmore, commander of the Fallbrook Sheriff's substation, sought discussion and input on the prospect of local deputies wearing body cameras. Deputies do not have the cameras yet, but according to Gilmore, the San Diego County Sheriff's Dept. is seeking to purchase them.

"The idea behind using body cameras is to increase public confidence ," explained Gilmore. "It is a means of documenting what happens in the field." He indicated many law enforcement agencies are pursuing the cameras following the incident in Ferguson, Mo. involving the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown and the dispute and public unrest that followed.

Gilmore said the body cameras can be turned on or off and department policy must be determined and set that will govern their use amongst the ranks.

"An example would be if a deputy is responding to a sexual assault call (rape); those victims deserve an element of privacy," said Gilmore.

Rebecca Eastom, a member of the advisory group, said, "I think [the cameras] could be a good thing to protect law enforcement but I can see where consistency of policy will definitely be needed."

Vi Dupre, administrator of the Fallbrook Healthcare District, added, "Citizens need to realize that this is a two-way protection and could, perhaps provide some element of crime reduction."

Dr. Hugo Pedroza, superintendent of Fallbrook Union High School District, described the potential use of body cameras as "sort of a social and political issue" and questioned the economic viability of the purchase versus the number of questionable situations it would help resolve.

"The average cost of using the body cameras would be about $1 million per year for the Sheriff's Dept. (countywide)," said Gilmore. "The department's annual, overall budget is $700 million."

Of the economic worthiness of the cameras, Gilmore said, "Spending $1 million per year on these could give us a lot of bang for our buck given the amount of claims it could save regarding injuries, etc."

Pedroza said, "Taxpayers will ask for the numbers, to justify the cost."

In regards to privacy, Mark Polarek of Legacy Endowment asked, "Are you required to tell people you are filming them?" to which Gilmore answered "If we are out in the general public, we are okay; but the complicated part comes into when we go inside a private home; when kids are present, etc." This topic brought the discussion around to juveniles and Fallbrook High School.

"If deputies come on campus and the cameras are off, there is no problem, but if they are on and filming minors, we have to have parental permission," said Pedroza. "Parent notification would be needed."

Discussion then turned to how well the deputies would adapt to wearing the cameras. "I can tell you, after working in the jail, where wearing the cameras is required, you get used to it and become comfortable with it," Gilmore said.

Officer Dan Hollywood, a representative from the California Highway patrol (CHP) Oceanside office, explained that CHP units have had the dashboard cameras for a while now, but that his agency is also looking at body cameras.

"There is [state] legislation in progress to allow us to use the body-worn cameras," said Hollywood. "The problem we are having is that the dashboard cameras only capture images straight-ahead. The body-worn cameras would be much more effective in capturing each incident."

Polarek queried whether the Sheriff's Dept. would conduct regular internal audits on call times versus camera time to determine if cameras had been shut off while an officer is still handling a call. "I would imagine there would have to be a system in place for that; checks and balances."

Most of the attendees agreed that if only a partial recording was made pertaining to a call, it could easily portray a situation wrongly.

When asked how soon deputies might be wearing the cameras, Gilmore said one station would most likely be selected to get the first distribution.

"They will likely put it in use in one area and take an opportunity to work all the kinks out before sending them to all stations," he said.