from statesman.com
By Tony Plohetski
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, July 03, 2009
Austin police officials have begun reviewing patrol car camera policies to make clear when officers must activate the devices and when backup officers should have their cameras on.
The policy revision probably will make officers videotape any incident in which they detain or try to stop a suspect - not just traffic and pedestrian stops, as the current policy states - police officials said.
Initial backup officers also probably will be required to make sure their cameras are recording an incident, while others who respond later would still be “strongly encouraged” to have their cameras rolling, officials said.
As part of the review, police officials also are trying to determine where an officer’s failure to follow the policy should fall under disciplinary guidelines.
The effort comes nearly two months after the fatal shooting of Nathaniel Sanders II by Senior Officer Leonardo Quintana, whose patrol car camera was not operating when he fired at Sanders. One of two backup officers who arrived at scene in the parking lot of the Walnut Creek Apartments on Springdale Road also had not activated his camera.
It was the third controversial police shooting in recent years in which a lack of videotape evidence sparked community anger.
Officials have said one camera at the scene captured a significant portion of the May 11 incident.
“Anytime there is an incident that revolves around a policy, the Police Department should be obligated to look at that and say, ‘Is the policy adequate?’ ” said Assistant Police Chief David Carter, the department’s chief of staff. ” ‘Is there something we now know that we didn’t realize in the past?’ ”
Officials said they hoped the review would be finished in the next several weeks.
Under current disciplinary guidelines, an officer can receive anything from a written reprimand to a three-day suspension for the first offense. Repeated violations can result in a firing.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said he thinks that the department will probably begin imposing more severe discipline on officers who demonstrate a “willful disregard” for the policy but that he did not yet know what that might be.
Acevedo said officials would consider extenuating circumstances, but that as the agency seeks new equipment, “there is going to be less and less excuse for not having cameras on.”
Officials have said the department wants to purchase digital camera equipment as soon as possible that would provide a continuous recording, which Carter said would take the burden off officers and make many of the possible policy revisions moot.
In most circumstances, cameras are now automatically activated when officers turn their patrol lights on. Officers can still press a button to record when they have not activated their lights.
Investigators are reviewing Quintana’s actions, but it remains unclear whether he violated the existing camera policy. Officials and an attorney representing Quintana have not said why he had not activated his camera.
The shooting, which also wounded another man, happened while Quintana was investigating whether Sanders was in a Mercedes-Benz station wagon that had been linked to reports of gunfire. At the time, the car was parked in the apartment complex lot.
Acevedo has said that Sanders reached for a weapon and that Quintana fired. Quintana also shot and wounded Sir Lawrence Smith, 21, who police said had lunged at Quintana.
A preliminary review of the shooting showed that it appeared to be lawful, Acevedo has said, adding that he would review Quintana’s tactics and judgment.
A Travis County grand jury and the district attorney’s office also are reviewing the shooting.
The Sanders family has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Austin.
According to current police policy, officers are required to record all traffic stops, pedestrian stops, sobriety tests and pursuits. However, Carter said that officers may detain people outside those circumstances and that it is the department’s intention that those encounters be taped.
The policy also isn’t specific about whether backup officers should have their cameras rolling. It allows all officers to terminate recording at the scene of “extended incidents or when no enforcement action is occurring, even though the emergency equipment on the vehicle is in operation.”
Carter said officials are concerned that requiring all backup officers to continuously record an incident would be too costly.
Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, praised the policy review.
However, Linder said, “the issue is enforcement. The idea is to enforce the policy and expectation. We want the cameras on.”