HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 10-05 Maplewood gathers input, admice on its police body-worn camera polcy MAPLEWOOD REVIEW
Maplewood gathers input, advice on its
police body-worn camera policy
Submitted by admin on Wed, 10/05/2016 - 12:00am
On Sept 26, Maplewood police chief Paul Schnell presented the city council a review of the police
department’s draft body-worn camera policy. This review included the perspectives of three guest
speakers.
Schnell said the Maplewood police force has had body-worn cameras since April 2014, but the policy
presented to the council would be an updated version of the existing policy.
The council discussed the draft policy and listened to the comments of guest speakers and residents, but
no action was taken. Schnell said at the meeting that he intends to take into consideration the feedback
from the council, residents and guest speakers and have a final proposed policy within 30 days for the
council to vote on.
The council has not yet determined which city council meeting this decision will be made at.
Highlights from the draft policy that received a lot of attention at the workshop and council meeting
include that officers are not required to inform residents when they are recording, officers can
essentially turn the camera on and off as they deem appropriate, in most circumstances officers can
watch the footage to complete their reports and non-incident data is held for 90 days.
Consent and user discretion
Maplewood’s proposed policy does not require officers to inform people that the body worn camera is
being worn or recorded, though the officer can disclose this if they believe it will de-escalate the
situation. They are required to answer honestly if they are asked, according to Schnell.
The policy also states that officers are supposed to activate their cameras when they are responding to
all calls and during all law enforcement-related encounters, and it allows them to turn it off when the
encounter is over or further recording is unlikely to garner evidence.
Guest speaker Matt Ehling from the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information raised a concern
that the proposed policy could be an invasion of privacy in residents’ homes. He said that in almost all
circumstances, officers need to have a resident’s consent before entering a home, and that they should
also gain consent before recording in a home.
Mayor Nora Slawik pointed out that sometimes it can be difficult to gain consent from someone who
may be intoxicated or who may not be fluent in English. Schnell added that the situation is further
complicated if one resident in a home gives permission, but another resident in the same home does
not.
Another guest speaker, Ben Feist from the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said
that while his organization agrees with the issue of privacy in the home that Ehling brought up, the ACLU
prefers residents be asked if they would like to opt-out of being recorded rather than the officer being
required to gain permission to record.
“Most of my concern really does come down to the amount of discretion that officers are allowed,” Feist
said.
Feist added that Maplewood’s proposed policy offers some direction for officers regarding when to
record and when to turn the camera off, but he said that he thinks there is not enough direction, which
could result in officers recording only part of the incident, which Feist referred to as “officers being able
to edit their own videos on the fly.”
Feist also pointed out that if residents don’t know they are being recorded, how would they know to
exercise their right to obtain a copy. He said that the types of body-worn cameras that he has seen do
not have any red blinking lights, so it may not be obvious to residents and they are unlikely to simply
assume they are being recorded.
Footage viewing and retention
Schnell explained that the obtained footage is confidential during an active investigation, but otherwise
private. The exceptions to that include instances when a firearm is discharged, where there was an
incident that included use of force involving substantial bodily harm, if the data subject chooses to make
the footage public, as part of the data documenting final disposition of discipline or as a court order.
Ehling did commend the Maplewood Police Department on the proposed option for residents to be able
to obtain a copy of a video they are in, or provide notarized permission for someone else to obtain a
copy. Ehling also appreciated that any material an employee views will be tracked and logged.
The option to view the footage is limited by the proposed policy to only a few individuals including the
officer who shot the footage, and that officer is allowed to view the footage to help him or her prepare
the police report of the incident, unless the incident caused “great bodily harm” or death to a person.
Feist shared his organization’s belief that officers involved in cases of even “substantial bodily harm” not
be allowed to watch the footage before reporting on it, as those instances are still even more severe
than use of a Taser stun gun.
Minnesota statute identifies “substantial bodily harm” as “bodily injury which involves a temporary but
substantial disfigurement, or which causes temporary but substantial loss or impairment of the function
of any bodily member or organ or which causes a fracture of any bodily member.”
Minnesota statute identifies “great bodily harm” as “bodily injury which creates a high probability of
death, or which causes serious permanent disfigurement, or which causes permanent or protracted loss
of impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ or other serious bodily harm.”
Schnell said that by allowing the officers in most instances to view the video before writing their reports,
it allows the officer to report more accurately and capture exact quotes. He added that audio recording
devices have been used for a number of years to take statements that are used later in the reports.
The reason for not allowing the footage to be viewed in cases of “great bodily harm” is so that the
officer’s voluntary statement is from the perspective of a “reasonable officer in the field” and not the
hindsight provided by re-watching the incident unfold, according to Schnell.
Guest speaker Yusef Mgeni from the St. Paul chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People agreed with the previous speakers regarding privacy in the home. But he felt that police
should not be able to view any footage before reporting on it because residents involved in the incident
would not be allowed this privilege before making a statement and the camera captures only one angle
of footage which can be misleading and can encourage the officer to unintentionally sway his or her
report in a different way than his or her memory may have. Mgeni did add that officers should be able
to amend their statements after viewing the footage if it becomes necessary.
Maplewood’s draft policy states that non-incident data would be held for 90 days, and criminal data
would be held for seven years.
Mgeni pointed out that since the digital storage space Maplewood pays for is unlimited, the city should
hold non-incident data for one year because that is the statutory limit for human rights complaints to be
filed in Minnesota.
Mgeni added that it could be financially viable for Maplewood to do this because people don’t tend to
file a costly lawsuit if they know there is evidence available that may disprove their claim.
Schnell noted the point that Mgeni made, but he added that keeping data longer than needed on people
who are not being actively investigated could also be problematic.
In general, residents who spoke during the public comment period of the city council meeting seemed to
agree with the three guest speakers, and shared their wishes for policies that offered more specific
guidelines for police officers.
“You must commit to a narrow set of well defined policies for which cameras and their audio video
footage may be used,” Mgeni said.
“Body cameras should be able to be a positive tool,” Feist added.