Fairfax launches pilot program for police body cameras, hires county executive
By Antonio Olivo November 21 at 5:47 PM
Police body cameras will make their debut in two Fairfax County districts over the next three months, the latest step in the county’s response to the fatal 2013 shooting of an unarmed man outside his home.
The $685,000 pilot program was approved by unanimous vote at a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting that also included the announcement of a new executive to run Virginia’s most populous jurisdiction.
Bryan J. Hill, who is county administrato rfor James City County, Va., will become Fairfax County executive in January. Hill, 50, will take the $250,000-a-year post vacated by Edward L. Long Jr., who retired this year. Kirk W. Kincannon, the executive director of the county park authority, has been filling the role on an interim basis.
The body camera pilot program will equip randomly selected police officers in the Mount Vernon and Mason police districts with 230 body cameras. Researchers from American University will analyze the footage from those cameras to determine their effects on use-of-force incidents, the number of abuse complaints and how officers go about their jobs.
“The cameras are important to understand how we get into these situations,” Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said.
This year, the county launched two civilian bodies to monitor investigations into allegations of excessive force, harassment and other misconduct. In all, Fairfax is pursuing $35 million in police reforms as a result of the John Geer shooting.
Roessler said use-of-force incidents stem in most cases from attacks on police officers, which he said the body cameras will be able to confirm.
The use of police body cameras has been controversial in some communities, including Fairfax, mainly due to privacy concerns over accidentally filming people who aren’t suspected of a crime.
Fairfax officials said they’ve researched what they legally can and can’t do under the program.
Anyone in a public area can be filmed. A police officer will also be allowed to film someone in their home as long as the police have the legal authority to be there.
Anyone who isn’t suspected of a crime and has a reasonable expectation of privacy may decline to be recorded, unless the officer is there as part of a criminal investigation or an arrest, county police officials said.
An officer may turn on the camera any time use of force is initiated or anticipated, police said.
The county board reserved the option of extending the pilot program another three months if officials believe not enough data was collected to decide whether to permanently equip the county’s police force of about 1,400 officers with body cameras.
“We have a population of over 1 million people, so when we’re trying something, we’re trying something big,” said the board’s chairman, Sharon Bulova (D). “If it fails, it can be a major, expensive failure.”