John Matthews
WMAL.com

ROCKVILLE, MD — (WMAL) By all accounts, Montgomery County’s effort to use body cameras on nearly a thousand patrol officers has been a rousing success so far, drawing rave reviews from investigators and prosecutors alike to help police close criminal cases, and to provide a set of eyes to protect both officers and citizens during law enforcement encounters.

But there’s still one big problem.

“I’ll use myself as an example,” Police Chief Tom Manger told a County Council committee Monday. “For someone who was a cop for 39 years and who did not wear a camera, for the past year – my 40th year – it’s been a struggle to remember to turn it on.”

The police department’s policy is for officers to use their cameras whenever they respond to a call, during traffic stops and when they are confronting potential crime situations. Cameras are not used continuously as a means of protecting citizens’ privacy and also because of the costs involved in storing massive amounts of video.

“You find yourselves in situations that happen quickly, and 5-10 minutes go by, and it’ll occur to me then that I have to turn my camera on,” said Manger.
The county’s goal is to attain 100 percent compliance from officers to turn on their cameras as needed, so a quality assurance officer has just been hired to ensure that patrol personnel is diligent in using the cameras. Manger is also hopeful that as more new officers enter the force, the use of cameras will increase.

“With recruits getting their cameras the first day, it should be muscle memory for them, so it’s a problem that as years go on, will be less and less of an issue,” said Manger.

The police body camera program started as a pilot program among 85 officers in the summer of 2015, and was expanded to include 950 patrol officers in March of 2016.

Manger and others say the cameras have been well received. Just last week, video of an officer who shot and killed a suspect in Montgomery Village verified that the suspect lunged at the officer with a knife before the officer fired his weapon.

Prosecutors have also given high marks to the program, saying it has helped to close many cases. But police warn the cameras – while helpful – are still just one tool.

“We might be struggling, and all you’ll see is someone’s shirt, or maybe [the camera] falls off. That’s happened,” said Assistant Chief Luther Reynolds. “You might have the audio, you might not. Low light conditions, where all you’ll see is some darkness, and some struggle,” he added.

But the biggest issue, as mentioned, is getting officers to remember to turn the cameras on. There is technology that would automatically turn cameras on in some situations, but it is still evolving. One possible pitfall is that the cameras of officers who are near to – but not involved – in a situation could have their cameras accidentally activated. Reynolds says the technology is moving forward quickly, and the department will continue to look for ways to improve the program.

Right now, the county is averaging 1,350 recordings a day. That number will continue to increase. If officers remember to turn the cameras on, that is.

Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Montgomery County Police)