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Main writes: "Cops, apparently unhappy with orders from top Chicago Police Department brass to wear microphones, recently took matters into their own hands on the Northwest Side: They threw them onto the roof of the Jefferson Park police station."

Chicago police officers. (photo: Flickr)
Chicago police officers. (photo: Flickr)


ALSO SEE: Cincinnati Police Union
Wants More Pay for Officers
to Wear Body Cameras

Chicago Police Accused of Throwing Bodycam Microphones on Roof to Prevent Capture of Audio in Shooting Videos

By Frank Main, Chicago Sun-Times

19 August 16

 

ops, apparently unhappy with orders from top Chicago Police Department brass to wear microphones, recently took matters into their own hands on the Northwest Side: They threw them onto the roof of the Jefferson Park police station.

A month and a half ago — before the release of the dashcam video showing an officer firing 16 shots and killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on the Southwest Side — a sergeant saw the discarded microphones through a window at the Jefferson Park station and reported the incident to the Independent Police Review Authority.

IPRA is the agency that investigates police shootings and allegations of officers using excessive force.

The incident highlighted officers’ widespread wariness about being required to be recorded by video and audio equipment.

Video from the McDonald shooting in October 2014 led to a first-degree murder charge against Officer Jason Van Dyke.

That video and others from the shooting scene captured the muffled sound of sirens. But none included audio of any of the officers who were there speaking — even though officers are required to wear microphones on their uniforms when they step out of cars equipped with video cameras.

IPRA has referred 24 incidents to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office this year for review of possible misconduct by Chicago cops. Twenty-two of those involved police shootings, and the other two involved other allegations of excessive force.

IPRA provided the state’s attorney’s office with dashcam videos in just three of the 24 cases.

And none of the videos had any audio of police officers talking, according to Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

“Most, if not all, of the dashcam video we see doesn’t have audio,” Daly said. “There are questions about why these videos don’t have audio, and they need to be answered. We certainly seek and want all of the available evidence, including video and audio.”

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said interim Supt. John Escalante recognizes the importance of ensuring that the technology works and getting buy-in from the rank and file.

“The superintendent has taken major steps to improve this, promising that any officer who knowingly turns off the audio function or otherwise does not follow department policy related to the equipment will face discipline,” Guglielmi said.

He said police inspectors are conducting random checks on whether the systems are working and that the department is investing in technology upgrades and repairs.

And officers have recently watched a training video on how to use their in-car camera systems.

According to Guglielmi, 12 percent of the 850 cameras now in use “experience video issues on a given day.” Also, he said, more than 80 percent of the cameras have non-functioning audio “due to operator error or, in some cases, intentional destruction.”

As a result of the McDonald shooting, the U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into the Chicago Police Department. The use of in-car cameras could become part of the probe.

Los Angeles and New Orleans are among cities that have come under Justice Department scrutiny over allegations of civil rights violations. In those cities, investigators found that officers were balking at using their video and audio systems.

In Los Angeles, a civilian watchdog group faulted police supervisors for not regularly checking in-car camera video for potential officer misconduct. The group urged supervisors to look into malfunctions of the camera systems to make sure officers weren’t responsible.

A Los Angeles Police Department inspection last year found that half of the 80 squad cars in one patrol division were missing the antennas that transmit what officers are saying in the field.

In New Orleans, a court-appointed monitor of the police department found that supervisors weren’t checking compliance with a policy requiring officers to wear microphones.

“Less than 5 percent of body microphone recordings audited … provide evidence that the external microphone is working and being worn by officers,” the monitor wrote. “Many supervisors explain the officers do not wear the external microphones since they are wearing body worn cameras, which also record audio.”

Ursula Price, an official with a separate New Orleans watchdog group, said a 2012 police shooting demonstrated the need for video and audio recordings of officers’ actions. An officer’s recording — made with a non-departmental body camera he wore during a drug raid — prompted prosecutors to charge another officer with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a man named Wendell Allen.

“It was really some of the only physical evidence in the case and helped show what happened in that shooting,” Price said. “The district attorney said the audio was instrumental in the prosecution and conviction.”

Chicago is preparing to augment in-car camera videos with recordings from cameras that officers will wear on their bodies. The city has been testing body cameras in the Shakespeare District on the Northwest Side this year and plans to expand the testing to six more of the city’s 22 police districts next year. No officers in the pilot program have been the subject of citizen complaints, officials say.

Chicago’s in-car camera program was launched in 2007, when the city signed a no-bid contract with a Texas manufacturer, Coban Technologies. In an unusual arrangement, the city awarded a $12.2 million contract to Coban under terms previously negotiated by Forsyth County in North Carolina. The cameras were listed at about $4,600 each without extras such as microphones, according to the contract.

In 2014, the city signed a separate contract with Coban for software, parts and repair services.

Only marked cars have the cameras to “avoid the possibility of surreptitious recording,” Guglielmi said.

When an officer starts a car, the camera automatically powers up, but the microphones need to be “synchronized” at the start of each tour and powered on.

“We are working with the vendor to explore ways to add to the reliability of this process,” Guglielmi said.

The Coban technology is “glitchy” and sometimes doesn’t work at all, according to a high-level police source who asked for anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk about the system.

Officers also are supposed to wear battery-powered microphones that can transmit audio up to 1,000 feet to their in-car camera systems. The microphones — which are smaller than a pack of cigarettes — haven’t always worked, the source said.

“We have technicians coming out to the district on a regular basis,” the source said. “You go over a bump in your car, and the focus can be off. The hard drives can fill up, and you have to go back to the station to download them. There are so many issues.”

A spokesman for Coban wouldn’t comment.

A Chicago Sun-Times review of police-involved shootings found several examples of in-car camera systems not working properly.

In one case, officers were on patrol on the West Side around 2:30 a.m. on June 16, 2013. They reported seeing a van speeding up and slowing down repeatedly near 18th and Springfield. As they followed, Antwoyne Johnson, 25, jumped out and ran off. The officers said they saw him carrying a gun.

The officers said they ordered Johnson to stop, but he didn’t. They said that after they chased him into an alley, he fell down and reached for his gun. One of the cops fired, hitting Johnson in the hand and upper back. He died on the scene.

A lawsuit filed by his mother offered a far different account. Claiming Johnson was unarmed, the lawsuit accused the officers of making up their story to justify shooting him and said they didn’t call an ambulance as he lay dying in the alley. In October, the suit was dismissed. Johnson’s mother is appealing.

There is no video to clarify what happened. Investigators determined that the in-car camera “was not functional that day,” according to IPRA’s report on the incident that said a repair order had been submitted before the incident.

Police officers — and their supervisors — say skepticism about the microphones and cameras is widespread among the ranks. Cops will continue to resist orders to use the technology “if the only time we see a video is when an officer is going to jail,” the police source said.

Department leaders, from the superintendent down, need to highlight examples of how the cameras have backed up police accounts or aided an investigation, the source said.

“Unless we see videos showing good police work, you get the feeling that they’re only used against you,” he said. “Until we start seeing what the benefits are, it’s hard to get the buy-in from the officers.”

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