When do Philly police have to use body cameras?
What you need to know about the rules about police body cameras in Philadelphia: How many officers have them, how they work, and more.
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Body-worn cameras — commonly called body cams — have been an important part of policing in the last 10 years, and their footage has been a critical part of the national conversation about high-profile brutality cases. The cameras are small, and attach to the center of a police officer’s chest so they can record interactions with the community for accountability and transparency.
The Philadelphia Police Department is the fourth-largest police department in the country. And body cams became part of its equipment in 2014, as part of a pilot program in the 22nd District, which includes parts of Strawberry Mansion, Brewerytown, and Yorktown.
The initial program included only officers who volunteered; by March 2018, it extended to the rest of the districts. Body cams have helped shed light on some big cases, like in the fatal shooting of Walter Wallace Jr. But sometimes there’s no footage, such as in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Thomas “TJ” Siderio.
So how are police body cams in Philly supposed to work? We’ve broken it down.
Do all police officers have body cameras?
No.
Philadelphia has 6,300 officers, including both uniformed and non-uniformed. Only uniformed officers are equipped with body cameras. In total, out of the 5,900 uniformed officers, 2,886 are trained and equipped with a body cam, according to a police spokesperson, Cpl. Jasmine Reilly.
Before being equipped with body cams, officers have to complete a 2½-hour training and study the department’s directive on body-worn cameras (called Directive 4.21).
Keep in mind, on-duty police officers are not allowed to use cameras, smart phones, or any other personal recording equipment — other than their body cam — to record their interaction with you.
According to Reilly, the goal is for all uniformed officers to have a body cam. Some districts don’t currently have any body cam equipment (Districts 6, 7, 8, 9, and 15), but all districts will be getting equipment in 2022, except District 15, which is under construction.
Up until mid-March 2022, the city has paid $2.5 million in total for the program, with most of the expense going for storing and backing up camera footage.
Is a body camera always recording?
No. Cameras are turned on manually, and stay on “stand-by’' mode, until the officer starts recording. The camera doesn’t start recording an interaction until the officer enables it.
Note: There is a 60-second buffer between the camera’s “stand-by” and “recording” modes. So, for the first minute after an officer presses “record,” while the camera is buffering, it will only save footage, but no audio.
The American Civil Liberties Union recommends that police departments have cameras that automatically record 30 seconds of video and audio before the camera begins to record.
When do police have to turn on their body cameras?
Police Department policy says that cameras have to be on in the following situations:
When officers are responding to a crime in progress.
During a vehicular or foot pursuit.
When investigating a vehicle or a pedestrian.
When police are about to arrest or give someone a citation.
When taking victim or witness statements or information.
During crises and disturbances.
During protests and demonstrations.
When officers are being confronted by people they perceive to be confrontational, antagonistic, or hostile.
If the officers believe, based on their training, that the situation needs to be recorded.
During a “show-up identification”: When the police bring a suspect to a victim or witness and ask them to identify whether or not the suspect was the perpetrator.
According to the ACLU, a “good Body-Work Camera Policy” requires police to record any encounter between them and a member of the public, and let the person know they are being recorded.
The PPD directive also says that if victims, witnesses, or informants request not to be recorded, officers should be able to decide whether or not to deactivate the camera.
What are officers not allowed to record?
Although it is best practice for police to record all interactions with the community, you are still entitled to an expectation of privacy. And officers are not allowed to make you believe the camera has not been recording, if that’s not the case.
Here are the scenarios where police shouldn’t have their body cam on:
Inside locker rooms, dressing rooms, restrooms, or any place where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists.
If the officer is having a non-work-related personal conversation.
During a police non-work-related personal activity.
During conversations with confidential informants and undercover officers.
During strip searches.
During non-work-related conversations with other police officers or supervisors.
Can the officer choose when to stop the recording?
No. According to Reilly, the camera has to stay on for the entirety of the interaction, from the moment the police stop you, until they take you into custody (if that is the case).
But there are some exceptions:
When private areas of someone’s body are exposed.
When the scene has “gruesome images.”
Whenever entering a religious institution, during a service.
Whenever entering a hospital room or private patient area.
Whenever officers are safeguarding a crime scene.
In each of these case, the officer is supposed to say the reason aloud before turning the camera off. And if the interaction continues but the exception has passed, they must reactivate the camera.
What happens if police don’t record an interaction?
According to the ACLU, body cams are “only as good as the policies put in place to ensure they live up to their potential.” If officers don’t follow those policies, the ACLU recommends disciplinary actions.
Reilly says mistakes can happen, but officers are supposed to start recording as soon as they realize the camera is not on. If they fail to fully document an interaction, officers are required to notify their supervisor, and document the fact that they forgot to record, along with the reason.
What happens with the footage once the situation is over?
After the situation ends, officers take their body cams to a docking station, where the data are transferred to the district’s Body Worn Camera server. At that point, only officers, investigators, and supervisors have access to it.
After the data are transferred, the docking station deletes the camera’s memory. Everything recorded is property of the department: officers are not permitted to erase, alter, modify, or tamper with any body cam software, wires, batteries, lenses, buttons, recorded audio, video, or any related data.
Once the information is uploaded, a supervisor looks through it. If something needs immediate attention, supervisors can send videos for investigation.
Why are body cams important?
Body cams are meant to protect both community members and police officers.
For the ACLU, body cams can “increase transparency and accurately document interactions between police and community members.”
Reilly agrees: “The camera is a universal witness, it doesn’t lie” but warns that sometimes cameras don’t show the whole interaction. “There are sometimes instances where things might happen behind the officer and the camera doesn’t capture it,” she says. In those cases, police rely on other officers’ cameras and outside sources.
According to the Philadelphia police directive, they serve six main purposes:
Enhance officer safety.
Enhance the public trust by showing the real interactions between citizens and officers.
Document statements and events.
Document and review statements and actions for reporting requirements and courtroom preparation.
To preserve visual and audio information for current and future investigations.
To provide self-critique and field evaluations during officer training.
If you feel as if you were treated unfairly
If the police fail to record an interaction with you, stop the recording without following protocol, tamper with the footage, or mistreat the community, they can be disciplined or potentially fired. Penalties can include a reprimand, suspension, or worse, and are supposed to escalate if an officer repeats the infraction within a one-year period. Two incidents can lead to a 30-day suspension; a third time can be grounds for dismissal.
Civil rights lawyer David Rudovsky advises that you generally cooperate during a police interaction, and if you think that anything was inappropriate, abusive, or unfair, you can file a complaint with Police Internal Affairs.