Dayton commission wants body cameras for police

Dayton City Commission has accepted the recommendation by a police reform committee to acquire body cameras for police officers and has directed the city manager to identify funding for the technology.

Body-worn video recording equipment is a good first step to improving trust between the community and law enforcement, supporters said. Dayton is the largest Ohio city not to equip police with the devices.

Cameras will document encounters between citizens and police and hopefully will provide useful video evidence that can corroborate or contradict their versions of events, said Dayton City Commissioner Jeffrey Mims Jr., who co-leads the reform committee focused on use of force.

“People want to see if the reports that are given by police and community members are backed up by what is shown by the cameras,” Mims said.

The commission also has accepted a recommendation that its members receive an annual report about use-of-force incidents in Dayton.

ExploreDayton police reform: Committee wants city to buy body cameras

Body cameras should increase public confidence in the police department, said Willis Blackshear Jr., the other co-lead of the use-of-force working group.

Body cameras promote increased police accountability and transparency and hopefully will lead to fewer reports of police misconduct, he said.

“I believe it’s a start,” Blackshear said. “More things will need to happen, but we are moving in the right direction.”

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Dayton police officers have been testing body cameras since Aug. 3, said Dayton police Chief Richard Biehl.

This first came to light last month, when the police department released video from a body camera of a controversial incident that happened during a traffic stop in West Dayton.

Currently, 20 officers are outfitted with body cameras, and cameras are deployed in all three police operations divisions, Biehl said.

Police officers and the police union are in support of body-worn cameras, he said.

“While these cameras can shed light on an incident, they will not always provide the answer or satisfy or resolve everyone’s opinion or view on a critical event,” Biehl said.

Deploying cameras likely would cost cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first year, and that does not include personnel and administrative costs, he said.

Commissioners have instructed City Manager Shelley Dickstein to find a funding source and vendor to implement body-worn camera equipment next year.

Video evidence from body cameras hopefully will help determine what actually happened during citizen-police interactions, especially when officers deploy force, said Commissioner Mims said.

“Everyone seems to be comfortable wanting the facts and wanting a true account of what happened," he said.

Mims said he expects his committee will make additional recommendations in the not-too-distant future.

Use of force

The committee recommended that an annual use-of-force report be presented to the city commission.

The city wants to identify trends in use of force, good or bad, Mims said, and the data should help determine when and where force is used, what types are used and under what circumstances force is deployed.

If the data suggests there may be issues, the city may look at training opportunities or taking other corrective action, he said.

Mims said he also believes it will be important to educate citizens about their rights and police policies, including what officers are and aren’t allowed to do.

There are five police reform committees, and more recommendations could be coming soon.

Members and support staff with a committee focused on recruitment recently talked about possible recommendations, like reducing the length of time between when candidates apply to join the police force and when they actually get into the academy.

Other ideas that have come up include creating a special recruitment budget and modifying hiring practices, like the “rule of one.”