Last spring, Salinas residents held signs that read “Stop Police Brutality” at Salinas City Hall, protesting the May 9, 2014 fatal police shooting of Osman Hernandez.
Then the focus shifted, as protesters began passing around cell phones. They hunched to watch video captured hours earlier: A passerby had taped the tense moments leading up to a fatal shooting on the corner of North Sanborn Road and Del Monte Avenue, where two officers with guns drawn pursued 44-year-old Carlos Mejia, then fired as he waved garden shears at them. The video went viral, fueling more protests, both peaceful and raucous.
Now, over the next few months, Salinas patrol officers will be outfitted with cameras of their own.
On April 14, Salinas City Council approved purchasing 70 body-worn cameras from Taser International at a cost of $390,000 over five years.
Cmdr. Dave Shaw says officers will be trained on how to use the cameras and begin wearing them within a couple months. “This is something we’ve been looking at for years,” he says. “It’s the future of where we’re going. It protects everybody’s interests.”
Shaw recalls a citizen complaint made against him years ago. He was on civil standby, he says, to protect a resident who was retrieving personal property from a family member’s house. As Shaw tells it, the resident’s cousin came outside and attacked the person retrieving the stuff; Shaw and his partner intervened.
“PEOPLE ARE ON THEIR BEST BEHAVIOR WHEN THEY KNOW THEY’RE BEING RECORDED.”
But the resident’s cousin saw it differently, complaining that police initiated the fight for no reason.
Not only could video have proven what really happened that day, Shaw says, but it might have prevented the incident entirely.
“People are generally on their best behavior when they know they’re being recorded,” he says.
For that reason, the Salinas Police Officers Association is on board too.
“Do I think [the body cameras] will exonerate police officers? Absolutely,” POA President Gabe Carvey says. “I can’t tell you how many times I would’ve liked to have a camera when a citizen complained I was rude or something.”
Despite the public pressure for police to wear body cameras, Carvey expects some pushback when it comes to privacy. SPD’s body-worn camera policy, prepared by Shaw and Cmdr. Mike Groves with input from the POA, calls for recording most interactions, including interviews with domestic violence victims and searches of private homes.
But people might not know those cameras are running. “Officers are not required to give notice they are recording. However, if asked, officers shall advise citizens they are being recorded,” the policy states. “Officers are not required to initiate or cease recording an event, situation or circumstance solely at the demand of a citizen.”
Shaw says certain footage, like recordings of officer-involved shootings and homicide investigations, will be stored indefinitely on a server maintained by Taser International.
He says footage from traffic stops, domestic violence investigations and other cases will be stored for three months to five years, depending on the value of the evidence.