New camera policy concerns officers

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Old equipment and a new police have some officers concerned.

Chief Art Acevedo implemented a new policy on officers turning on their patrol car cameras: The first violation results in a one- to three-day suspension. An officer intentionally not turning the camera on will get four- to 15-days the first time and fired the second time.

"I'm sorry to see the policy come out before we have the new equipment that's going to make mistakes less frequent," said Wayne Vincent, Austin Police Association President.

The camera system in Austin police cars is more than 10 years old and Chief Art Acevedo says the system is antequated. The department uses VHS tapes and the department says its looking for nearly $8 million for new cameras that could roll all the time.

"I've got no choice but to recommend that officers have their cameras on all the time just to avoid a career-threatening mistake," said Vincent.

After outcry from the officer-involved shooting that left Nathaniel Sanders II, 18, dead on May 11, community members are calling on the Austin Police Department to overhaul its dash-camera video system. Senior Police Officer Leonardo Quintana shot and killed Sanders after Quintana said he saw Sanders reach for a gun.

However, out of the three officers on scene, only one had their dash camera rolling. Officer Quintana's camera did not capture the incident, and he was suspended 15 days for making that mistake. Meanwhile, Officer Siddiqui was suspended only three days for the same policy violation of not turning on his camera.

APD explains Officer Quintana made two separate conscious decisions to detain suspects that day - and failed to turn on his camera beforehand, both times.  Officer Siddiqui, however, just arrived as back-up, and when he saw the driver of the car in handcuffs, thought there was no need to turn on his camera.

Department policy states officers are required to record all traffic and pedestrian stops, sobriety tests and pursuits.
Many are now questioning APD's federal funding requests for other items rather than dash camera video systems.

Debbie Russell with the Austin Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, notes that earlier this year, the city requested $800,000 for surveillance cameras, and other items for the city's 2010 Legislative funding agenda. At that time, Acevedo said it is not up to the department on which requests are funded, and which are not, and would not say whether surveillance cameras are more important than new dash cameras.

In 2005, Officer Julie Schroeder's dash-cam video recorder did not record the officer involved shooting of Daniel Rocha. Schroeder later re-enacted the video but was eventually let go from the Austin Police Department.

In 2007, dash-camera video did pick up audio recordings of Sgt. Michael Olsen's officer involved shooting of Kevin Brown. Police Chief Art Acevedo eventually fired Olsen from the force.

The Pflugerville Police Department is using 2009 Justice Assistance funding to pay for a server system that would allow the transition from VHS to Digital.

Acevedo wants to look for funding to upgrade the video camera system, but did not specify when that request would happen.