Video Cameras Urged for LAPD
The federal monitor who oversees the Los Angeles Police Department is urging the city to place video cameras in police cars as a way to measure whether officers are treating minorities fairly -- a step embraced by many departments nationwide but so far avoided by the LAPD.
Federal monitor Michael Cherkasky made his recommendation to the City Council and the Police Commission while telling them that federal monitoring of the police is likely to be extended beyond next year because the force has yet to fully comply with reform efforts.
In the 1990s, the LAPD experimented with a video camera system in patrol cars in some areas but opted not to expand it because the thousands of cumbersome videotapes were hard to store and would have required vast warehouses with retrieval systems, said Councilman Bernard C. Parks, a former police chief who served during that time.
Cherkasky responded that digital video now can be stored cheaply and easily with quick retrieval and that warehousing should no longer be an issue.
Police Chief William J. Bratton said in May that he was interested in placing cameras in the more than 1,200 patrol cars but said he saw it as a long-term project.
Cmdr. Charlie Beck said the department is seeking funding from City Hall to begin equipping a small number of test cars with cameras.
Hundreds of police agencies nationwide use in-car camera technology to record traffic stops. Some agencies, such as the Seattle police, have begun installing wireless cameras that can download images to data storage at stations.
The LAPD has operated under a federal consent decree since 2001, after the Rampart corruption scandal in which officers were accused of framing suspects and committing crimes.
The department hoped to end the decree next June by largely completing a variety of reforms the city agreed to with the U.S. Department of Justice.
But Cherkasky, echoing earlier predictions from LAPD officials, said he doubted that the reforms would be completed by June.
"We have more than telegraphed the fact that we think there are important and material areas that are not in compliance and cannot be in compliance," he said.
He cited several areas that need improvement.
The LAPD has yet to bring online a computer system that would track the conduct of officers. The idea behind the system is to allow the department to more easily identify officers with patterns of misconduct.
