Newstrack: Iowa City police roll out body cameras

Background

Earlier this year, the Iowa City Police Department announced that it would be obtaining body cameras for its officers and investigators.

In the meantime, the department had to craft a policy that balanced public record laws and the expectation of privacy among citizens.

What's happened since

Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine praised his department's new body cameras policy for adhering to public record law while also providing a sense of privacy to citizens.

'I think we've hit that balance,' Hargadine said this past Thursday. 'That's something time will tell. If we need to tweak it after a couple months if something is not workable, we'll go back and look at that.'

After several months of planning and waiting for their order to arrive, the department distributed body cameras to every patrol officer, investigator, community service officer and animal control officer in the department. Hargadine said each officer had been equipped with a camera and trained on his or her use within the first few days of August.

Purchased to help officers collect evidence as well as settle any issues related to use of force or complaints about an officer's actions, Hargadine said the cameras have yet to fill that role.

'I'm not aware of any case were video has resolved anything, but I'm sure it's coming,' he said. 'Likewise, I'm not aware of a criminal complaint it's given evidence to, but I'm sure that's coming as well.'

Earlier this month, Hargadine shared the department's policy governing the use of body cameras with the city council. The policy dictates when the cameras will be activated, as well as exceptions to those guidelines.

'Any time they're doing something proactive involving the public, usually they're going to be activated,' he said. 'Car stops, disturbances, calls for service when they're going to disturbances, we're going to be turning them on.'

However, according to the policy, exceptions will be made when officers are interviewing the victims of sexual or domestic assaults or other sensitive crimes or witnesses who are concerned with retaliation if they are seen cooperating with a police investigation.

The policy also states officers may shut of their cameras 'in locations where individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as a residence.' However, the cameras will not be deactivated in a residence if the recording is being made as part of an arrest or investigation.

The policy lays out other scenarios when the cameras can be deactivated, such as when an officer is writing a report following a collision investigation and the parties involved have been released.

That said, Hargadine wants a law that defines videos as not being accepted as public record. The law today, he believes, is murky.

'If it's inside a dwelling, we're hoping those will be taken out of the public domain,' he said. 'We think they're public record. I've seen some departments across the state with a policy that differs, but I think they'd lose that case.'