KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department provided an update on their rollout of body-worn cameras Thursday.
Thanks to funding from the DeBruce Foundation and Kansas City Police Foundation, around 900 patrol officers now have body-worn cameras in place.
The cameras work with the in-car camera system that has been in police vehicles for decades, according to the department.
Both the in-car and body-worn cameras will trigger at the same time. This can be done manually or whenever lights and sirens are flipped on in the vehicle.
"Most officers want that camera running. I don’t know of too many officers who would ever say I don’t want a camera today," KCPD Chief Richard Smith said.
Smith said that because officers are already used to the in-car camera system, there should be no issue getting used to the body cameras.
Currently, officers in the patrol bureau are wearing the cameras. That includes patrol officers, traffic officers and tactical officers.
Policies dictate cameras are turned on any time law enforcement action may be taken.
If an officer is in someone's house, the person can request to turn the camera off. However, if the officer has to take any action, like arresting someone, the camera must be turned on again.
The department was recently awarded a federal grant to provide 400 additional cameras to the investigations unit. They are currently in the process of executing that grant.
Chief Smith said that the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer sparked a cry for change, and KCPD listened.
"I think it's been a tough year for everyone," Smith said of the protests and calls for police reform following the incident.
He said that officers have also wanted this for years, but they struggled to get the funding.
"I believe this will increase transparency and accountability," Smith said. "This is a win-win for everyone. The community wanted it. The officers wanted it."
The policies surrounding use of the cameras were designed by a group of community representatives and area prosecutors.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said that the overall goal of the cameras is to uncover the truth. They will be used to make sure the guilty are prosecuted and the innocent are protected.
Zahnd did point out that Missouri statues will make it difficult in some cases for the public to have access to the body-worn camera footage.
Missouri's Sunshine Law will prevent the footage from being made public if it needs to be presented to a jury in order for a fair trial. A trial would have to be complete before it could be made public if there is criminal action involved.
Zahnd did say a judge could allow for the release of the footage before that after weighing public benefits and privacy concerns. The judge could also dictate an edited version be released.
John Hamilton, a retired KCPD major turned criminal justice professor at Park University, said the number one thing he wanted to see was community input, and was pleased to see the department followed through.
"I think that helps in the understanding of the whole process," John Hamilton said,
Hamilton said there will still be issues that the police department will have to work through and be transparent about with the public.
"One thing that's not solved in any of these, whether it's the camera in the car or on the body, is the interpretation of the incident," Hamilton said. "That's something that these can't solve, which in some cases is the crux of the concerns."
Individuals on the footage would be given a 10-day notice before it is released in order to have time to object.
KCPD will operate in-house storage of the footage.
Non-evidentiary footage will be kept for 180 days. Evidentiary footage will be kept at lengths dictated by Missouri statutes depending on the crime involved.
Anyone can request the footage in most circumstances.
—
