32 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: OCTOBER 2017 are to be used is producing the very skepticism and mistrust among the public that having the cams is designed to prevent in the first place. “It’s a recipe for disas- ter,” Melanie Ochoa, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told reporters with the Associ- ated Press. “I would imag- ine officers would be quite willing to turn it over if it paints them in a good light, but what is the access if it does not?” According to reports from the agency’s inspec- tor general, about 20 percent of Los Angeles County’s 10,000 deputies have bought cameras for themselves. Not a single frame of footage recorded by cams on LASD deputies has ever been made public. A 2014 report released by the U.S. Justice De- partment and the Police Executive Research Forum strongly advised police de- partments against allowing officers to use body cam- eras they bought on their own. “Because the agency would not own the recorded data, there would be little or no protection against the officer tampering with the videos or releasing them to the public or online,” the re- port said. “Agencies should not permit personnel to use privately owned body-worn cameras while on duty.” There a few agencies that allow officers to buy their own cameras for official use. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cur- rently says it’s stuck. Officials are trying to develop policies that would govern the use of cameras that deputies had purchased on their own. But they still don’t have a timetable. “It’s something we saw the need for, we initiated it, and it is working its way through the system,” Sheriff Jim McDonnell told The Associated Press. Ron Hernandez, presi- dent of the union that rep- resents deputies in Los Angeles, says most depu- ties who bought their own cameras did so in order to protect themselves in case someone falsely accuses them of misconduct. “It’s really a personal preference,” Hernandez said. “The members we have spoken to have said they thought it would be beneficial for them. They see the value in covering themselves.” How that would work is entirely unclear. Hernandez dismissed complaints from critics and concerns that depu- ties would alter footage is it would be beneficial in court. “I would hope that if a deputy is recording, he is retaining it,” Hernandez said. “It would be counterpro- ductive for an officer to get his own camera to cover himself and then assume they are going to manipu- late the footage. They’d be better off not having anything.” Continued from page one Ron Hernandez is the presi- dent of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sher- iffs (ALADS). The LASD is the largest sheriff’s depart- ment in the United States. Will DIY bodycams help or hurt police officers in court? A Virginia State Police counter-sniper team stands watch before a news conference held by right wing activist Jason Kessler in front of City Hall in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Chip So- modevilla/Getty Images) Dept #AP07 desantisholster.com Doubles as Pocket Holster Tuckable™ 360 Adjusts to any position TUCKABLE IWB CONVERTIBLE TO POCKET HOLSTER Pocket-Tuk™ MSRP Style 111 2999 $