With growing national scrutiny of police use of force, some Honolulu Police Department officers are not waiting for the department to adopt body cameras and have begun using their own video-recording devices.
One officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to use the device, said he has been wearing a personal body camera for his own protection since December, prompted by the protests around the country after a white officer shot an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Mo., last year.
He has turned on the Bodycam brand, chest-mounted camera about 30 times while on duty "when I felt that there was going to be questions about what I did," he said recently.
He wants HPD to issue body cameras to "preserve the integrity of the department," adding, "That’s the type of policing we’re in now. Policing has got to evolve. A lot of officers do good work, and now there’s questions."
Michelle Yu, HPD spokeswoman, said the department is aware of some officers using personally purchased cameras.
"This is a personal choice," she said in an email. "Currently there is no policy that prohibits their use."
She said HPD is looking into obtaining funding for a body camera pilot program and will begin drafting policies shortly.
Yu did not have an estimate on how many officers wear body cameras, but the number appears small. The officer who was wearing his personal device knew of only one or two other officers who wear body cameras.
One barrier to obtaining personal cameras is cost. The officer who wears his own camera said he bought an upgraded version with 18 hours of memory for about $450.
Another HPD officer, who requested anonymity, said he supports body cameras because they can change the way people behave, including officers, and people sometimes make false accusations. He said in one incident he was with an officer who calmed down a situation by saying he was turning on his personal body camera.
On Hawaii island a few officers were using personal body cameras this year, but the department halted the practice because policies have not yet been written up for the devices, said Deputy Chief Paul Ferreira.
He said numerous issues are still unresolved, such as when the cameras should be turned on and when someone should be told they are being filmed.
The Police Department could be held accountable for any issues that might arise from an employee using a body camera, he said.
"To err on the side of caution, we’re telling officers … if you use them, you’re not doing it with the blessings of the department," he said.
Chris Loos, Hawaii Police Department spokeswoman, said in an email that the department is still conducting research into body cameras.
"There are significant privacy issues that need to be weighed along with other considerations, such as storage of the video, maintenance issues with the cameras and attendant computers and servers needed to support the cameras," she said.
Loos said videos could be considered public records, "which, if requested, would in all probability paralyze our operations." She said personnel would be needed to download the requested videos and to redact any private information.
Ferreira said some concerns about privacy could arise if an officer entered a home with a body camera or someone gave details on camera about a juvenile, which is confidential information.
Dashcams don’t present the same problems because they are used on public roadways, he said, adding that the department has purchased dashcams in the past.
Meanwhile, the Kauai and Maui police departments have completed pilot projects using body cameras.
Sarah Blane, Kauai County spokeswoman, said the department intends to buy 105 cameras after the Council approves funding in June. The Council has allotted $75,000 to be matched by grants for cameras for the department.
Blane said KPD will meet with the police union when the body camera policy is finished.
Earlier this month MPD finished a monthlong pilot project with officers using body cameras in the field. MPD is reviewing information from the study, a spokesman said.
Hawaii’s police union also supports the use of body cameras by officers.
"There’s no doubt about it," said Tenari Maafala, president of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers. "We want it."
He said body cameras would help officers be more accountable, appease public concerns about police conduct and help officers document why they had to react a certain way in situations.
Two legislative bills attempting to set aside money for body cameras, however, stalled this session.
Rep. Gregg Takayama (D, Pearl City-Pacific Palisades) introduced a bill that would have provided $50,000 a year for the next two years, to be matched by the city, to fund a body camera pilot project for 100 officers in Honolulu.
He said he was disappointed the bill died, but there was nothing to stop the city from moving forward on its own.
"It was our hope that by providing some startup funds that HPD would get moving on at least a pilot program to try out body cams," he said. "I wish there had been more initiative demonstrated by the city and by HPD in this area."
While he said he understands the concerns about data storage, policies and public access, he said in jurisdictions that have used body cameras, citizen complaints and use of force by police officers have fallen.
"Body cameras seem to put everyone on their best behavior," he said. "To me that’s certainly worth striving for."
On May 1 the Justice Department announced a $20 million project to buy body cameras for police officers. It was the first installment in President Barack Obama’s proposal to spend $75 million over three years to buy 50,000 body-worn cameras for law enforcement officers.
