Police make case for squad car cameras

By Brian Wellner
Rock Island County Sheriff Jeff Boyd hopes the Sept. 10 deputy-involved shooting that left a man paralyzed shows there's a need for dashboard video cameras in his squad cars to capture what really happens in any traffic stop.
Boyd supervises a fleet of 25 marked squad cars, which is similar in size to most other Quad-City area law enforcement agencies. But unlike other departments, which equip all or almost all of their squad cars with cameras, only two of Boyd's squad cars have cameras.
"As it pertains to car cameras, we're behind in that technology," Boyd said.
He thinks the reason for the lack of cameras is because the sheriff's department has a take-home policy for a much larger fleet of 65 department vehicles.
In addition to the marked squad cars, vehicles can be driven home by sheriff staff, detectives, supervisors, courthouse security, the jail administrator and the sheriff. He said anyone who takes a car home is on-call to respond to emergencies.
Boyd said it's difficult to equip all of those vehicles, let alone the marked squad cars, with cameras, comparing his department with a smaller one like the Rock Island Police Department, which equips all of its 21 patrol squad cars with cameras.
Still, Boyd is trying to find the money for cameras and for new cars to replace the oldest ones.
"I'm still dealing with some vehicles that are so old they're not even equipped to have computers," Boyd said.
When he took over as sheriff in December, Boyd said there was no money in the budget in fiscal year 2011 for new cars or technology such as dashboard cameras.
An in-car video system costs $5,000.
"The county's hurting for money," Boyd said.
He asked for the money to replace nine older cars in fiscal year 2012. Initially, the Rock Island County Board budget committee cut the number down to three.
At the last budget hearing, which was Sept. 10, the committee cut the number to zero, he said.
Investigating an incident
Sept. 10 was the same day as the deputy-involved shooting of Gregory Ohnen, a 56-year-old barber from Prophetstown, Ill.
The deputy who pulled him over, William Baney, did not have a camera mounted on the dashboard of his squad, and therefore the traffic stop and exchange of gunfire moments later were not recorded.
Boyd announced earlier that Baney, an 11-year-veteran of the force, followed department procedures during the incident.
On Thursday, Rock Island County State's Attorney Mark Senko said Baney would not face any charges in the shooting. Senko's decision came after an investigation by the Rock Island County Integrity Task Force, made up of investigators from several county law enforcement agencies and led by an Illinois State Police master sergeant.
Meanwhile, Ohnen is still being treated at OSF St. Francis Hospital in Peoria, Ill., and his family and police confirmed he's paralyzed from the neck down from injuries suffered in the shooting. The state's attorney's office is gathering evidence to determine what charges, if any, will be filed against Ohnen.
Boyd said a dashboard camera would have given him "indisputable" evidence to support his deputy's version of events.
"It doesn't get more transparent than real-time raw video," Boyd said.
Video from dashboard cameras helped Scott County Attorney Mike Walton recently clear Davenport police officers of wrongdoing in two separate officer-involved shootings that occurred less than a month apart.
Just past midnight on Aug. 7, three officers shot 18-year-old Michael Cross as he was trying to run them down with his car at the base of the Centennial Bridge, Walton said. Video caught Cross ramming his vehicle into two unmarked police cars and then driving his car forward as officers ran toward him shooting.
The evening of Sept. 8, an officer fatally shot 48-year-old Victor Medina as he emerged from an apartment building on West 2nd Street and advanced on officers while holding a device that he threateningly called a bomb. Video caught the 40 minutes leading up to the fatal gunshot, during which officers are heard trying to negotiate with Medina.
All of Davenport's 44 vehicles used in the patrol, traffic and crime prevention bureaus have cameras, purchased with the help of city capital improvement funds.
"Ninety-nine out of 100 times it shows the officer is doing the job properly," Davenport Police Capt. David Struckman said.
Rock Island Police Chief Scott Harris said the videos are used in court for traffic-related cases, including drunken driving arrests as well as criminal cases.
"The only hindrance is it shows straight ahead of the cruiser, but all in all, we're very fortunate to have those," Harris said.
Finding the money
Boyd said he's looking for federal grant money specifically for in-car video. He may have some money left over from an inmate transportation grant after a correction officer position was eliminated.
"I can take some of that money to buy an in-car video for a first-shift deputy," he said, adding one of the duties of first-shift deputies is to transport inmates.
Currently, the two videos he has are used in second-shift and third-shift vehicles.
The Scott County Sheriff's Office was able to equip all of its 25 squads with cameras thanks to a 50/50 agreement utilizing both an Iowa governor's traffic safety grant and money from the sheriff's budget, Sheriff Dennis Conard said.
The Bettendorf City Council used money from its own budget to pay the $130,000 for 15 cameras along with supporting software and hardware for retrieval, downloading, storage and making copies of videos, Bettendorf Police Lt. Keith Kimball said.
"The cameras are beneficial for the following reasons: evidence for court, training purposes, debriefs, establishing validity of complaints against officers and accountability of officers' actions," Kimball said.
Moline equipped 81 percent of its squads with cameras without the use of a grant, Moline Police Detective Scott Williams said.
"The cameras are very useful in our DUI and traffic enforcement," Williams said.
Boyd also is still seeking to replace his older squad cars. Since the Sept. 10 budget meeting, Boyd asked once again to sit down with the Rock Island County Board to discuss buying new cars next year, board Chairman Jim Bohnsack said.
"We'll get together next week to see if we can work this out," Bohnsack said Wednesday. "This issue is still in progress. We've got to look at revenues and what grants the sheriff can get.
"The finances are tougher this year.The revenue is not coming in on the sheriff's side. We are going to get him some cars. As the economy turns around, we'll start buying some."
Take home policy
Rock Island County Sheriff's Deputy Adam Moseley, 29, who works second shift, isn't fortunate enough to have one of the two video squads. He's been on the force nine months, having moved over from the Aledo (Ill.) Police Department.
But unlike in Aledo, he is allowed to take home his squad car, which he said cuts down on overtime.
"I get off at midnight," Moseley said. "And right at midnight, I get to walk inside my house."
The Sheriff's Office take-home policy has been in effect for at least 10 years, and Moseley understands why the department made the shift.
"When you take home a car, you're heading out to calls a lot faster," he said.
He also said deputies take more ownership of their vehicles than in other departments where vehicles are shared and driven 24/7.
"It's yours, and you make it look nice and presentable," he said, showing off his 2007 Dodge Charger.
He regularly checks the oil, tires and other maintenance issues on the car. If he sees maintenance needs to be done, he calls the vehicle supervisor who sets up an appointment at a local mechanic. He's already notified his supervisor that his check engine and traction control lights have come on.
"It's something that can be fixed, but it's not dire," he said. "We'll wait a little bit."
His Charger has 78,000 miles and runs well "for the most part," he said.
After 80,000 to 84,000 miles, a squad car needs to be replaced, Boyd said, adding he has some unmarked vehicles with 135,000 miles on them.
Moseley, who lives in Rock Island, also said having a squad car parked in his driveway is as much of a deterrent to crime as a neighborhood watch sign.
"Since I moved in nine months ago, I've had five neighbors come up to me and thank me for being here," he said. "They feel safer."
By comparison, Quad-City municipal police departments have limited take home policies, or none at all.
Among Davenport's entire fleet of 70 vehicles, 20 percent are driven home by the K9 officers and some investigators and supervisors who are on call. Bettendorf and Rock Island have similar policies, whereas Moline does not allow officers to take home vehicles.
The Scott County Sheriff's Department has a take-home policy for deputies assigned a squad. Conard said the policy improves response times.
Boyd said only a sworn Rock Island Sheriff's deputy is allowed the take-home privilege, which does not include civilian employees of the sheriff's department.
Boyd said as sheriff he's always on call for emergencies, adding he was the fourth or fifth vehicle to respond to the Sept. 10 deputy-involved shooting.