Sheriff Conway refuses body cameras while more U.S. police forces embrace them

Body camera

A Newark, N.J. police officer displays how a body cam is worn during a news conference unveiling the department's new cameras in 2017. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)AP

UPDATE 6:15 p.m.: In a dizzying day, county exec forces sheriff’s hand on body cams: We’ll pay for them

UPDATE 1 p.m.: Sheriff Conway wants body cameras now after Syracuse.com reports of promised money

Syracuse, N.Y. — The New York State Police this month started to equip troopers with body cameras.

Sheriff’s deputies in Erie, Monroe and Albany counties — three of the biggest Upstate counties — wear body cameras. One department has had them for six years.

In Onondaga County, at least 10 of the county’s 15 police departments — including the Syracuse Police Department — use the cameras.

But the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, the second-largest police force in the county, does not use body cameras and has no plans to add them.

Why?

It’s not a priority, Sheriff Eugene Conway told Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

Conway said the cameras are expensive and he wants to spend money on other things such as bulletproof vests, stun guns and patrol cars as well as filling empty positions. The sheriff said there are no discussions or plans under way to add body cameras.

“Body cameras are important,” Conway said. “But where do they fall in the overall necessity?”

Onondaga County is the only county among Upstate’s most populous counties to not equip its deputies with the cameras.

County leaders, including the county executive, district attorney and the head of the legislature’s Public Safety Committee, said they all want the deputies to wear the cameras.

“We live in a world today where accusations can happen, and they need to be taken seriously,” County Executive Ryan McMahon said. “Having these cameras empowers the community with confidence, but also it gives us the ability to go back and see what happens in very tense moments.”

District Attorney William Fitzpatrick wants the deputies equipped with body cameras.

“If you have the technology, why not use it?” he asked.

Getting body cameras for the sheriff’s office is a priority, McMahon said. To make that possible, he said, he will include money in the county’s 2022 budget to pay for a program.

The sheriff, however, is an elected official who does not report to the county executive. McMahon can ask the county Legislature to set aside money for the cameras, but he can’t order the sheriff to buy the cameras or use them.

Not equipping officers with body cameras defies both national and state trends: Each year more and more departments have opted to outfit officers with the cameras.

Nearly half of the country’s more than 15,000 law enforcement agencies had body cameras as of 2016, according to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the most recent estimate available.

New York State Police start wearing body cameras

A body camera displayed by the Syracuse police when they started using the cameras in 2018.Patrick Lohmann | Syracuse.com

The number of police agencies using body cameras increased after the high-profile deaths of unarmed Black men in 2014 and 2015 — including Eric Garner, who died on Staten Island after an officer placed him in a chokehold, and Walter Scott, who was fatally shot in the back by an officer as he ran from a traffic stop.

Protesters hoping to end police shootings, increase transparency and build public trust asked for cameras to be added to officers’ uniforms. Many departments answered that call.

A second national push for cameras came last year after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minnesota after then-officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for over 9 minutes. Decrying police brutality, people across the nation — including in Syracuse — protested and called for reform.

Chauvin, who was found guilty Tuesday of murder, was wearing a body camera when he killed Floyd. Witnesses also took video of the former officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. The videos were used in the trial.

The camera footage was crucial in Chauvin’s case, DA Fitzpatrick said.

“The question arises: Absent that video, would you have had a conviction?” he asked. “You might not have even had charges filed (against Chauvin).”

Body cameras protect police, too. In Onondaga County, Fitzpatrick said many of the county’s recent police shootings where officers have fatally shot armed suspects have been captured on video. The footage backs up officers’ actions, he said, and gives grieving families a chance to see what happened.

Body cameras benefit the public and police, experts say.

Complaints about officer misconduct steadily decline when police wear cameras, a study released in November by the Urban Institute found. Knowing a camera is present, experts said, tends to improve the behavior of everyone involved.

Watching and studying archived footage also serves as a powerful learning tool for police departments, said Eric Piza, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former crime analyst.

“Far too often, police departments won’t really look at body camera footage until something bad has happened — until use of force is used, until a citizen complains about officer behavior,” he said. “Research has shown police should observe footage before something happens because they can learn about how to handle small problems.”

For example, use of force incidents typically happen 6 minutes after an officer and a subject meet, Piza said. Reviewing videos of old encounters can show officers how to use those vital minutes to defuse future tense calls, he said.

Body cameras give investigators and the public a chance to review police shootings and weigh whether an officer’s decision to use force was justified.

That was not possible in the death of Judson Albahm, a 17-year-old boy fatally shot by officers in Jamesville during a mental health call in early March.

Four officers from three agencies — the DeWitt Police Department, the sheriff’s office and state police — shot at Albahm March 4 after he pointed an airgun at officers, police said. None of the four officers was wearing a body camera, Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard found.

At the time of the shooting, DeWitt only equipped patrol officers with cameras. But the two DeWitt officers who fired at Judson were investigators and did not yet have the cameras. (The department is expanding its program this year to ensure the entire force has cameras.)

Conway said he once tried to bring body cameras to the sheriff’s office.

When Joanie Mahoney was county executive, the sheriff’s office asked the county for $50,000 to $75,000 to launch a pilot program, Conway said. The request — included in the department’s proposed budget — got axed before the county’s full budget was sent to legislators, he said.

Conway said he hasn’t asked for funding for the cameras since McMahon took office in 2018.

McMahon told Conway in a letter sent Feb. 25 that the county will provide to the department money for the cameras. He asked Conway to send his office a plan for outlining how the sheriff’s office would make the program happen.

Weeks after the letter was sent, county officials said Conway had yet to respond.

Fueling a body camera program is expensive, Conway said, estimating it could cost as much as $2 million to run. Along with buying 200 to 225 cameras for the department’s police force, Conway said, the sheriff’s office would need money to cover related costs like storing the video footage and paying for the staff needed to redact footage requested by the public.

“To be fully operational, it’s a substantial cost,” the sheriff said. “I don’t want the body camera program to be in lieu of something else.”

The sheriff said he doesn’t want to roll out a body camera program before ensuring it can be continuously funded.

The experience at other departments suggests the cost would be lower.

The Syracuse police department, for example, spends $1,907 per camera annually, not including staffing to run the program, according to Joe Cecile, police first deputy chief. That would put the sheriff’s department costs at $429,000 a year if it equipped 225 people.

A national police policy group, Police Executive Research Forum, estimated the total cost at $5,000 a camera a year including staff to run the program. That estimate would put the sheriff’s department’s cost at $1.1 million.

Money is the top reason police departments cite for not pursuing programs: Over 70% of the agencies without body cameras in 2016 said the cost of storing video footage and replacing equipment made the programs unpalatable, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Grants from the state Office of the Attorney General have helped police departments in Upstate — including the Syracuse Police Department, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office — jumpstart and expand body camera programs.

But finding money for a body camera program in Onondaga County appears possible.

As next year’s budget is drafted, McMahon said the county itself is pricing options. Storing the videos is the most expensive part of body camera programs, he said, and could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But residents consider body cameras a vital part of police reform — a tool that can benefit the public and officers, McMahon said.

The county executive said his office will make sure the money needed to fund body cameras is available. From there, it’s up to the Legislature and the sheriff, he said.

County legislator Christopher Ryan, chairman of the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee, said he supports body cameras.

“I think it makes police agencies better, more responsive,” he said.

Ryan said he would vote to fund a program — particularly if the county and the union for patrol deputies can come to an agreement during upcoming contract negotiations.

It would be up to the Legislature to approve or reject money for the cameras. David Knapp, chairman of the Legislature, did not respond to inquiries from Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

Staff writer Samantha House covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at shouse@syracuse.com.

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