Auditor finds not all KCPD body cam video is captured properly; recommends changes
An audit of the Kansas City Police Department’s use of body cameras shows that after about a year since the department was fully equipped, some changes are necessary.
City Auditor Doug Jones announced the city’s findings on Tuesday, concluding that while the department was “off to a good start,” there was still room for improvements.
He recommended 11 improvements, including changing policy to ensure that videos were good quality, that officers were recording the entire call, that videos be uploaded in a timely matter and that a video exist with every dispatch.
“In general we agreed with most of the audit findings and welcome the suggestions,” Deputy Chief Michael Hicks said during Tuesday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas called the department’s response “a good sign of cooperation.”
Audit findings
Between January and August of 2021, almost 325,000 body camera videos were recorded by KCPD, according to the auditor’s office, which was able to review 98 of the videos. Missouri’s Sunshine Law limited some of the videos that were viewable.
While almost all of the videos were clear, unobstructed and had good audio, 17 of the 98 videos failed to capture the entire incident, as is required under department policy, according to the report.
“Starting a video late or ending a video before the end of an interaction, could raise questions about what is being left out,” the report read.
When looking at a sample of about 700 police calls from July and August of last year, the auditor also found that about 20% of police dispatches did not include the expected corresponding footage from officers.
KCPD told the auditor that the lack of footage was probably because officers were going through a learning curve.
Department policy also requires police to “dock,” or upload, any videos into a department-wide storage system at the close of a shift. In an eight-month period, about 7% of the videos recorded weren’t uploaded within the required 24 hours after they were taken, the auditor found.
Officers also failed to correctly classify some call types or activities, which can cause videos to be deleted sooner or later than policy requires. However, the audit found that almost all of the videos were stored for at least 30 days before being deleted, as is required by the state.
Other recommendations:
Among his other recommendations, the city auditor suggested that the policy be updated to include:
- Specifics on where body cameras be worn.
That officers must narrate why a recording was started after a call or interaction already began.
A process to compare the number of dispatched calls for services and self-initiated calls to the number of videos that are recorded, and address any discrepancies between the two.
A way to assess whether entire calls were recorded.
A requirement that supervisors review and document body camera use.
Required training to refresh officers and supervisors on the department’s policy.
Fully equipped
The audit was requested by the City Council on the tails of the full program’s roll out. The initial body camera program was announced in September 2020. The Board of Police Commissioners in January 2021 approved additional cameras to fully equip all of KCPD’s patrol officers by April 2021.
Community leaders for years had called on the creation of a body camera program as a way to hold the city’s police officers accountable, with that demand intensifying following protests around the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.
In June of 2020, Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith announced that the DeBruce Foundation had donated $1 million and raised another $1.5 million from community partners to fund the cameras. In total, 890 cameras have been issued, mostly to patrol officers, traffic and special operation units.
The department purchased body cameras that, when synced with patrol cars, automatically begin recording when an officer turns their flashing lights on or when they reach speeds of at least 80 miles an hour. Officers can also start their cameras manually. They continue recording until the officer turns it off.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 12:30 PM.
