LAPD outfits Mission Division officers with body cameras

MISSION HILLS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Officers at the Los Angeles Police Department's Mission Division in the San Fernando Valley were equipped with body cameras Monday as part of a roll out of 860 such cameras over the next month.

The cameras were provided by $1.5 million in private donations raised by the Los Angeles Police Foundation, according to the LAPD.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti outlined funding for about 7,000 body cameras and equipment in his 2015-16 budget proposal, but the funding has yet to be appropriated. City officials are still waiting on federal grants that they hope will pay for half of the costs.

When all the cameras are distributed in July, the department will become the largest police force in the country to use the body cameras on a wide scale.

"I really think that this piece of technology is going to be really beneficial, not just to Mission area but I think to the community that we serve as well as the department overall," said LAPD Capt. Todd Chamberlain, who oversees the LAPD's Mission Division.

The body cameras are manually turned on and off by the officer, and the officer is required to have the body camera on anytime he or she is investigating a crime or an incident.

The use of body cameras has become prominent in the wake of controversial police shootings across the country. LAPD hopes the cameras will help build more trust in the community.

"All we're after is one thing and that is clarity and the truth. These on-body cameras aren't the ultimate, but they sure are a great tool," said Steve Soboroff, who heads the Police Department's civilian oversight board. "They're an up-close video and audio. Many times if there's five officers, it will be from five different angles. If there's two officers, it'll be from two different angles. It should make things a lot clearer."

A tense debate still remains on why the footage will not be released to the public.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California dropped its support over two policy points that allows officers to review the footage before making a report or statement and allows them to not publicly release the recordings unless they are part of a criminal or civil court proceeding.

"Body cameras won't provide transparency if they never show footage to the public," said Peter Bibring, ACLU senior staff attorney. "If there's a controversial shooting or an incident of misconduct, it's crucial for the public, if they're going to have faith in the process, to see what actually happened."

The body cameras have a 12-hour battery life and hold 5 and a half hours of footage. The footage is downloaded to Apple's iCloud service every single time an officer returns to his or her station.

Mission Division police officers became the first to receive the cameras on Monday. Officers at the Newton Division will receive their body cameras on Sept. 15 and the Central traffic and specialized divisions on Sept. 28.

The Mission station serves the Arleta, Panorama City, Sylmar, North Hills and Mission Hills areas, the Newton division covers the Fashion District, South Park and Pueblo Del Rio, and the Central Division serves much of downtown Los Angeles.

City News Service contributed to this report.