New Body Cameras Offer Evidence When Police Aim A Gun At A Person

PHOENIX, AZ — At a press conference Monday, Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego provided updates on recent and forthcoming changes in Phoenix PD policies and practices. The announcements follow the Phoenix PD’s record-setting nationwide high of 44 police shootings last year. The Phoenix PD has also come under scrutiny after 22 of its retired officers and 75 of the current Phoenix police force were found to have posted inflammatory or racist comments on Facebook. And then there’s the viral video of Phoenix officers pulling guns on a couple and their 4-year-old and 1-year-old after the 4-year-old was accused of shoplifting a doll from a local dollar store.

This increased scrutiny has already resulted in a new policy that started Monday, requiring officers to thoroughly document any incidents where they point a gun at a person. Now body-worn cameras will reinforce the new policy, and supervisors will review the footage of incidents when a gun is aimed at a person. Currently 1,700 Phoenix officers are suiting up with body cameras including community-response squads, the crisis-intervention team and all patrol officers. By the end of this year, community-action officers, neighborhood-enforcement teams, SWAT teams, the downtown-operations unit and traffic officers will find themselves wearing body cameras too. Williams reported that the body camera distribution so far is ahead of schedule.

Mental health training is something else the Phoenix PD will be requiring, partnering with the La Frontera Arizona treatment center to give eight hours of training on “mental health first aid” to all patrol officers. Previously, police academy training included basic crisis-intervention instruction. Then officers could opt to complete an additional crisis course of 40 hours. It’s estimated that 80 percent of Phoenix patrol officers opted out of the 40-hour training. The new mental health training course instructs police on de-escalation techniques and how to determine if mental illness is a factor in a crisis incident. The new eight-hour training has already been given to this year’s recruits, and other patrol officers are required to complete the training in 24 months.

The Phoenix PD has also appointed a new ad hoc committee of county and city representatives, responsible for reviewing recommendations offered in community listening sessions. In July, the council approved a measure to implement a system of early intervention to determine pre-incident which officers are most likely to breach protocol. However, now the council is waiting on price tag approximations before they decide if such a system will be purchased later this year, USA Today reports.

A public community survey and civilian review board are also being considered by the department as measures to help restore community trust in the Phoenix PD, and the DOJ was recently called in to assist with community relations. Read more at USA Today.