Orange County Deputies to Use Video During Family Disturbance Calls

Hoping to record the devastating effects of domestic violence, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is equipping deputies with digital video cameras to use during family disturbance calls.

The department, which spent $20,000 to buy 20 hand-held cameras, is the latest agency to adopt video recording in the battle against domestic violence, widely regarded as one of the most difficult crimes to investigate and prosecute.

Sheriff’s officials said they hope the new tool will provide jurors and judges with strong evidence of the physical and emotional toll wrought by violence in the home, particularly on children who witness parents’ fighting.

“It’s hard to see that unless you actually get to see dad hitting mom, and the kid sitting there crying,” Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Davis said.

The move to strengthen efforts to combat domestic violence comes as law enforcement agencies put into practice get-tough approaches to a crime once dismissed as a family matter.

The shift in attitude, driven by public pressure and strict new laws, resulted in a 431% rise in domestic violence arrests in Orange County between 1988 and 1998.

Sheriff’s deputies in southern Orange County will be the first to use the cameras, which were purchased exclusively for domestic violence responses. Officials in other areas of the department are also evaluating use of the technology.

The department bought the new cameras after Orange County Superior Court Judge Pamela Iles asked Sheriff Mike Carona to look into getting video of family disturbance scenes.

“Anything that explains the actual event objectively and clearly is of help to the court,” Iles said.

Sheriff’s officials said the new technology, which can record up to 30 seconds of video footage, will replace the instant cameras now used to document domestic violence injuries.

The digital cameras, they said, will provide clearer pictures of injuries and capture other evidence, such as a victim’s pleas for help. Such footage, officials said, should prove especially helpful in cases where victims--caught in a tangle of dependency, guilt and love--often retract earlier statements to police and refuse to testify against their attackers.

“It’s trying to put in perspective--often several weeks or months later--the fear, the pain or emotional upheaval that was present at the initial time of the deputies response,” said Sheriff’s Sgt. Christine Murray.

Deputies in South County began training Tuesday to use the cameras and can start using them Friday.

Though videotaping is still an unusual way to document violent family disputes, more and more agencies are trying it, partly because such cases are difficult to prove.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were among the first in the region when they began using hand-held video cameras at such scenes two years ago. Since then, a number of smaller agencies across California have followed suit, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Sgt. Bernice Abram said.

So far, she said, no one has objected to the use of such cameras on privacy grounds.