Over the past decade, the Philadelphia Police Department has spent more than $20 million on its body camera program. But an analysis by Axios found that thousands of officers violated bodycam policies, most for not turning on their cameras.
Philly was approached in recent months by a company offering similar technology, but police spokesman Sgt. Eric Gripp said the department currently doesn’t plan to adopt it.Without that type of technology to increase accountability, experts told Axios that for the nation's fourth-largest department, the "gold standard" is for supervisors to audit at least 10% of body camera footage.
The city plans to issue 450 additional cameras to officers in the 15th district and in special units by fall 2023, city officials told Axios.states that officers must have their body cameras turned on when responding to crimes, during protests, while initiating arrests and conducting vehicle or pedestrian investigations, among other tasks.
Supervisors cannot examine footage as part of disciplinary fishing expeditions. Plus, they must have permission from higher-ups and “good cause” in order to review footage of specific officers. Of these officers, 61 resigned while their violations were pending, 372 were trained and counseled, 262 were found guilty of violations and 331 are still awaiting hearings, according to city data.
The rest only had the body camera violation open when they resigned, and Gripp cautioned about inferring that’s why those officers left.