Most Minn. body-cam policies leave usage to cops' discretion

There are more than 150 officers on the Duluth police force. And every single one of them — from parking staff, to soon, even animal control officers — has a body camera.

Tim Chaney, who's been on the force for a year and a half, turns on his camera almost anytime he interacts with someone.

"Even for a simple report call, I'll activate it," he said. "But definitely for things like a traffic stop, or any kind of crime in progress, I'll activate that as soon as I hop out of my car."

Duluth was one of the first departments in the state to adopt body cams, in 2014. Its policy lays out several kinds of enforcement actions officers are required, in most cases, to film incidents like traffic stops, crimes in progress, and any use of force. But the policy gives officers discretion to decide exactly when they should turn on their cameras.

That's not unusual.

"Most agencies give the discretion of when to press the start button on that device to the officer," said Jim Bueermann, a retired police chief who's now president of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation.

But the police shooting in Minneapolis earlier this month will likely cause many departments to reevaluate their policies.

Minneapolis' change to its body cam policy was a response to the fatal police shooting of a woman who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault. Neither the officer who shot her or his partner had turned on their cameras.

"One incident like this, that receives this kind of attention — other departments will take note," said Chuck Wexler, Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which has recommended that officers activate their cameras while in route to a scene. "And my hunch is that they will make their policy in line with what Minneapolis has done."

MPR News reviewed the body camera policies for more than 20 police departments across the state. There's no definitive list kept, but it's believed around 30 municipal and tribal departments use the cameras, or are piloting them.

Prior to Minneapolis changing its policy, only a handful departments explicitly required officers to activate their cameras before they arrive at a call for service.

One is Hutchinson, a town of about 14,000, 60 miles west of Minneapolis.

"Our motive and our reasoning for doing it was in all honesty just to simplify the process for the officers," said police chief Dan Hatten. "So that they could turn it on when they weren't under a stressful situation, and not have to worry about it once they arrived at the scene when they obviously have a multitude of things to deal with."

Hutchinson officers only began using body cameras in April. "There has been a learning curve," Hatten said, "in just getting used to having that equipment on their uniform, getting used to activating it and using it on a regular basis."

The Police Executive Research Forum has recommended a policy specifying that officers should turn on their cameras before they arrive on scene, said Wexler. But most departments across Minnesota haven't adopted it. Some argue that officers' conversations on the way to a scene should be kept confidential, Wexler said.

Others say their current policies are working well.

"Our experience has been officers have a tendency to turn them on more than would be required by our actual policy, because you never quite know what's going to happen," said Eric Gieseke, chief of the Burnsville Police Department, which in 2010 became the first department in the state to adopt body cameras.

He said after a while officers develop "muscle memory." They turn on the cameras without even thinking about it, almost like buckling their seatbelt.

Gieseke said they review officer reports to ensure they're turning on cameras when they should. They've never been notified by city or county attorneys of a case where they didn't have video evidence, he said.

Duluth police leaders report a similar experience. Officers respond to about 8,500 calls a month, said Lieutenant Mike Ceynowa. In June, he said, officers recorded 11,000 videos, because often multiple officers on a scene will all turn on their cameras.

"So I think we're capturing what we need to capture. I think it's ingrained in our culture," he said. "We're three years down the road into this project, and our officers know it's important to them and to us."

Despite the perception some people might have that cops sometimes don't turn on their body cams because they don't want the public to see what they're doing, Duluth Lt. Chuck O'Connor said it's actually the opposite.

"I have yet to find an officer, and I'm not exaggerating, that doesn't like the body cams, that isn't glad that we have these," he said.

Officers say cameras are great for training, to look back at what an officer could have done better. They can record interviews with crime victims that help with prosecution. And they say they inspire better behavior from folks who they interact with.

And for departments struggling to maintain public trust, they're a way to be transparent and hold officers accountable for their actions.

Still, without a coherent policy among police departments, Jim Bueermann with the Police Foundation worries the cameras could fail to live up to their potential.

"Even though the devices were intended to increase trust and confidence in the police," he said, "in many instances, we're starting to see them actually fueling more distrust and a lack of confidence."