Body cameras will help Santa
Paula Police build criminal cases
September 25, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Police are starting to officially wear body cameras after the City Council approved the policies and procedures for the high-tech devices at Monday’s meeting.
The Santa Paula Police & Fire Foundation provided more than $27,000 for the Wolfcom Vision cameras, docking stations and related equipment and licensing. The 25 cameras will be assigned to patrol sergeants and officers as well as detectives; reserve officers will also be able to check out a camera from the spares as needed.
Officer William Pickett is glad to see them: “These types of things are just outstanding for us…I can’t say enough about it, I love them!”
Such cameras are growing in popularity, as “They’ve been a very useful tool in making everybody behave a little nicer. And that,” he added, “is a good thing.”
Pickett believes the cameras in general will cut down on false complaints against officers across the nation and are “very useful for situations that evolve rapidly.
“Say you have an individual acting completely erratic,” that later is hard to describe using basic — at times sparse — police language.
“It’s hard to put down in a written fashion that doesn’t really show how out of control this person was acting,” but a whole new light is literally shed on the incident when it is recorded.
“Having it on tape,” said Pickett, “is much better than describing it!”
How a subject looks and acts is not at question and when the video is played in concert with the written report, “It all clicks! A jury when hearing a description of a suspect’s behavior could be told the subject was just nervous…but with the tape it can be shown it was completely different.”
The Wolfcom Vision has plenty of extras from larger storage, lens angling, ease of use, lighter weight and longer batter life through easy to carry packs.
But the main advantage said Pickett is “You’re obviously getting a real time perspective of things…it might not be a perfect catch but it sure tells a story. That’s why there’s so much news coverage with video clips.”
Police preparation of a case is like writing a best selling book: “You want to tell the story as accurately as you can and each time we go to the District Attorney’s Office we try to bring them a bestseller…and the video adds a new perspective on things.”
Said Pickett, “It’s a great tool…”
The SPPD acquiring the cameras said Police Chief McLean is, “way overdue…even if it’s one more thing we have to get used to. It’s where law enforcement is going and we have to get on board.”
He noted the SPPD is one of the first departments to have so many body cameras: “All our people have them now including reserves that can check them out…I don’t know if there’s another department in the county where all their personnel have the body cameras.”
McLean watched a video from Tuesday where “Someone was screaming that he’s being mistreated, screaming ‘quit kicking me!’ at the top of his lungs…he didn’t know he was being filmed although it was obvious officers were wearing body cameras.
The policy and guidelines for the use of the body cameras was also reviewed by the Santa Paula Police Officers Association that suggested some changes that were incorporated into the document. Still, some officers approached body cameras with caution.
But, “The more the guys use them the more they see how they benefit them and the more comfortable they’ll become when their instincts kick in,” on camera use.
