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.

Cherkasky said the LAPD also must show the city’s minority community that it practices “unbiased policing.” He said the department could do a better job of monitoring and analyzing how its officers interact with the public.

“The LAPD needs to come up with a way to assure its citizens that minorities are not singled out,” he said. “We believe cameras in police cars is one of the ways you can do that.”

Cherkasky said his review of LAPD data on traffic stops suggested that officers treat minorities differently than whites. But he stressed that his review was not scientific and required much more analysis by the LAPD.

The decision to extend the consent decree rests with U.S. District Judge Gary Feess, who appointed Cherkasky and will decide whether the city has substantially complied with the reforms.

Before becoming a judge, Feess was deputy general counsel for the Christopher Commission, a blue-ribbon panel that looked into improving policing after the 1991 Rodney G. King beating by police. That board recommended that the LAPD install cameras in cars.

Police Commissioner Andrea Ordin, a former member of the Christopher Commission, said cameras in cars was one of the first and most practical recommendations the panel made.

“This is something that needs to be done,” she said outside the meeting.

It’s unclear how long it would take to install the cameras, which would cost an estimated $25 million. The police union has come out in favor of the cameras, as have some community activists.

Cherkasky’s assessment of whether the LAPD is in substantial compliance with the consent decree reforms was not as rosy as those made by department officials in recent months.

Bratton said recently that the holdup has largely involved computer systems to track officer conduct.

But Cherkasky said the department has yet to establish a financial disclosure policy for officers serving in specialized units. The idea is to monitor whether officers suddenly receive large infusions of money that could suggest corruption.

He also said investigations of use-of-force incidents and officer-involved shootings must be conducted more efficiently. Currently, such investigations can last a year or longer.

Police Commission President John Mack said that a new process to handle such shootings was given a go-ahead last week, and that it will trim months off the investigations.

In the end, Cherkasky said, he thinks the LAPD will eventually comply with the federal decree.

“What we see in L.A. is ... a series of things which makes the continued progress so much more likely to occur,” he said.