The Anchorage Police Department is moving forward with body cameras after being sued for failing to implement a body cam program approved and funded by Anchorage residents.
The program will start once the department purchases the equipment.
Police Chief Michael Kerle told an Anchorage Assembly committee that he didn’t have an estimate on when officers will be outfitted with cameras.
A day after the lawsuit was filed by the Alaska Black Caucus, APD announced it was moving forward with police worn body cameras under a currently published policy. On Wednesday, Kerle told the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee that details within the policy may change as cameras are implemented and negotiations are completed.
Kerle said that APD selected a vendor and is negotiating a contract for the equipment. Kerle said the program will start once officers are trained on the equipment and the department is set up to store the video footage.
The initial rollout will consist of 30 cameras, and eventually scale up to the full force of about 400 officers. After APD confirms that data can be handled correctly and the policies around evidence are working, the remaining cameras will be deployed, according to Kerle. With officers wearing the cameras on every call, huge amounts of footage will be generated and ultimately will have to be stored by the department as evidence.
Acting Municipal Prosecutor Monica Elkinton, who has been working with APD on policy around handling evidence, stressed that most footage would be evidentiary and that policy needs to be developed around sharing footage with both prosecution and defense attorneys.
“Most of the footage that’s going to be out there is not going to be officer-involved shootings. It’s going to be the police officers talking to witnesses of crimes, talking to victims of crimes and then we are going to use that in court as evidence,” Elkinton said.
Private citizens will have to file a public records request to obtain footage, but it can only be released after investigations have concluded. The policy does include the option for the police chief to proactively release recordings in the case of officer-involved shootings or other critical incidents.
“My main concern is release of BWC videos to the public,” said Rich Curtner, co-chair of the Alaska Black Caucus’ Justice Committee. “To get video the public must go through the long public records process.”
Curtner said the Alaska Black Caucus requested the policy state that video of a “serious incident” will be released, but after the request, the policy was changed so that video would be released at the discretion of the police chief.
Under current policy, officers may not review recordings in cases of an in-custody death, use of deadly force, or when an employee is the subject of a criminal investigation. Kerle said the main sticking point in negotiations with the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association is whether an officer can review footage before being interviewed by an investigator. Arbitration is scheduled for the fall but negotiations are happening now.
“Arbitration costs money,” Kerle said. “We will be negotiating up until arbitration in an attempt to save money.”
Deputy Chief Sean Case said that APD leadership is “pretty solid” on the current policy and that APD has already made a lot of concessions with the union.
“I think it’s a good policy for this community and what it wants,” Case said.
Under the current policy, cameras will be required to be turned on for all police service calls or when police initiate an encounter with the public. Minors, guardians of minors, and victims of sexual assault can request that recording equiptment be turned off.
Elkington said that there will be additional funding for increased staffing and technological needs. Assembly member Kameron Perez-Verdia asked Elkinton to identify those needs and come to the Assembly with a request as soon as possible.
“My concern is no further delays and that we move forward as quickly as we can,” Perez-Verdia said.
