Wichita police: Full use of body cameras by year’s end still on track

Wichita police are in the final stages of implementing body-worn cameras for all of its officers, interim Police Chief Nelson Mosley said Wednesday.

The first 106 cameras have been ordered for Patrol North, Mosley said, and officers will begin training on the cameras next month.

“Our progress is on track and we will meet our goal of full implementation by the end of this year,” Mosley said.

The policy governing use of the cameras and the videos they produce is still being fine-tuned, Mosley said.

The department already has more than 60 body cameras, and is ordering another 429 for use by officers in all four of the bureaus in the city. The project has been estimated to cost more than $2 million.

The Department of Justice on Monday awarded a $250,000 grant to buy body cameras. The grant must be matched by local dollars.

“We still have to meet on...where those funds will be taken from” to match the federal grant, Mosley said.

Police officials have previously said money for buying and maintaining the cameras will come in part from towing and narcotics seizure funds.

Seven staffing positions are being created to handle camera-related tasks such as cataloging video, Kansas Open Records requests and citizen complaints, police said.

Mosley said officials are still trying to sort out such details as how long video needs to be stored.

“In the end, we want to make sure it’s long enough” to allow for appeals of court cases, he said.

The promise to have body cameras on all officers by year’s end came out of a public meeting held last year in response to protests and unrest that occurred in Ferguson, Mo., after an officer shot and killed a teenager.

Officials cautioned that body cameras won’t provide every answer in a given incident. Depending on where officers are as an incident unfolds, some views may not be possible – and there could still be disagreement on what’s happened.

“There may still be a challenge on what’s seen,” Mosley said, “but at least there’s documentation of an incident.”

Along with an update on implementing body cameras, Mosley offered a status report on efforts to better train officers in crisis intervention and interacting with residents who have mental health issues.

The department will exceed its goal of having more than half of its officers trained in mental health first aid by December, he said. That figure will reach 80 percent by Dec. 10.

In addition, 103 officers have now received crisis intervention training. That’s still only about 20 percent of the force, which is at the bottom range of recommended training levels.

Much of the training deals with deescalation techniques. Wichita police have come under criticism from relatives of Icarus Randolph, a 26-year-old Marine veteran who, according to his family, had post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq.

Police said an officer fatally shot Randolph on July 4, 2014, outside his home after he charged with a knife. Randolph’s family said that instead of helping him, two police officers sent to the home caused or allowed the situation to escalate.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Wichita police: Full use of body cameras by year’s end still on track."