Body cameras could be equipped on every Phoenix police officer in the next three years.
There are currently 139 cameras deployed within Phoenix. The Maryvale and Estrella Mountain precincts, in areas north of Interstate 10 and west of Interstate 17, use 125 of those cameras. The crisis intervention squad wears nine and the uniformed drug intervention squad wears five.
Assistant Police Chief Michael Kurtenbach said the next step in the program would be to distribute the cameras throughout Phoenix precincts to cover more land and stop isolating the use to just Maryvale.
According to city records, initial use of body cameras began in March 2011 with a 90-day pilot in the South Mountain and Cactus Farm precincts.
In December of 2011, the Phoenix Police Department teamed up with Arizona State University’s Center of Violence Prevention and Community Safety to examine how body cameras affect the behavior of the officer wearing the device and the citizen in contact with police.
David Choate, associate director for the center, said the program between ASU and the Phoenix Police Department was the first federally funded research of police body cameras.
Based on the success of the 90-day pilot, Kurtenbach said the Phoenix Police Department sought grant money to expand the program and evaluate the utility of body cameras as a tool for law enforcement.
Choate said their research found a decline in the number of complaints filed and those considered legitimate. The study showed that, for officers who wore body cameras, complaints decreased 23 percent. For officers not wearing cameras, complaints increased 11 percent.
A second federal grant was received in September 2015 for the purchase of 150 more cameras to expand the program and cover associated costs, according to Kurtenbach.
“This new Smart Policing Initiative grant will allow for the purchase and evaluation of additional body worn technology, related video storage and overtime fringe benefits for personnel to implement and sustain the project,” Kurtenbach said.
ASU will work with the Phoenix Police Department for the duration of the grant program to continue to find consistent results.
“The expectation is that, yes it will have this civilizing effect on both members and the officers,” Choate said.
In light of the success of the police body cameras, a three-year plan to equip every on-duty police officer in Phoenix with a body camera was passed in 2014. Eleven million dollars of Phoenix’s budget has been set aside for the program.
District 6 Councilman Sal Diciccio said he wanted to know what the $11 million reserve in this year’s budget is paying for. He said although he understands the want for body cameras, he doesn’t know if using such a large amount of the budget is the right choice for Phoenix citizens.
“We have actually reserved money in this year’s budget for the next three years of rolling out the program in three pieces,” City Manager Ed Zuercher said.
Ben Taylor, Phoenix resident and attorney, spoke at the meeting Tuesday to testify to the need for body cameras, urging the council to look past cost and see the benefits.
“Body cameras show the real evidence and it builds trust in the community,” Taylor said. “There is some lack of trust going on but you see the camera, watch it and see exactly what has went on.”
Mayor Greg Stanton closed the discussion and said the focus of the program needs to be community safety.
“The safety of our officers, the safety of our community as a whole, that’s what a well-constructed body camera program will do for Phoenix Police Department, keep us a leader on the issue of building community trust,” Stanton said. “This is the next logical step in that effort.”
Contact the reporter at kaylee.stock@asu.edu.
