City of San Diego staff is recommending changes to San Diego police policy when it comes to body-worn cameras after a recent review found officers are not using the devices correctly. While the city's police chief says he agrees with the auditor’s recommendations, there is some pushback from within the department.
On Thursday morning, the Office of the City Auditor presented a body-worn camera report to the Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee of the San Diego City Council. The report showed that up to 40% of officers didn't use their body-worn cameras as required when responding to enforcement incidents.
“My initial reading of the percentages of how many times there wasn’t BWC footage captured surprised me, given how many times there was video,” San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo said.
The main findings were that officers didn't record many encounters or that they didn't record the entire incident. According to the audit, SDPD’s policy on when to turn on the cameras is more complicated than it is in other cities.
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Los Angeles and Dallas police departments, for example, require officers to turn on their cameras for all calls. SDPD chief David Nisleit tried to explain why that's not the rule in San Diego.
“A lot of it has to do with cost, and a lot of it has to do with something that was mentioned: A lot of crime victims don’t want their faces and conversations recorded and then kept,” Nisleit said.
That explanation doesn't sit well with community activist Tasha Williamson, who is calling for more transparency and accountability.
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“I’ve actually had issues where police come into homes of Black people, Brown people, indigenous people and never told them they had the right to not have BWC on," Williamson said. "So where in the community is that happening? In La Jolla? In Scripps Ranch? In Carmel Mountain. Is it happening in places like City Heights and Southeast San Diego?"
Nisleit said he will have to meet with the Police Officers Association before requiring officers to turn on their cameras for every call.
The auditor also found SDPD doesn't have a detailed policy on when it releases body-cam video, which creates confusion among the public and for the city council as well.
Nisleit said the department is in the process of acting on some of the auditor's other recommendations. One change already made: The department is keeping video that’s recorded accidentally for a longer period. SDPD expects to move forward with the auditor's other recommendations by next summer.
In 2020 the city council approved a three-year, $8.4 million contract for the body cameras.
In response to the audit, the Police Officers Association released the following statement:
"San Diego Police officers were on the forefront in law enforcement of adopting body-worn cameras over eight years ago. Our officers diligently use those cameras and are held accountable when errors in their use occur. The SDPOA looks forward to discussing this topic further with the auditor’s office as to how they came to their conclusions and developing procedures which keep our officers and community safe."
The Office of the City Auditor will present their finding on body-worn cameras to the full city council on Oct. 10.
