Wilkes-Barre Police training with body cameras

WILKES-BARRE — Before city police officers are equipped with body worn cameras and go into service, they’ll undergo training and have a policy in place.

Instruction on the operation of the Axon Body 3 cameras and corresponding technology began last week. Wilkes-Barre City Police Department Chief Joseph Coffay said the company provided the initial training and an administrative sergeant and patrol instructor will train the officers.

“We are still a month or two out, if not three,” Coffay said Tuesday in an email.

Coffay said all uniformed officers will be issued with one of the 70 cameras. “Any other use will be covered in the policy which is being finalized. Detectives will have access to cameras to wear when it is applicable based on their duties,” he added.

Key elements in the departmental policy for body worn cameras (BWCs) should address usage, storage and privacy among other issues, said Michael Jenkins, Ph.D, Chair and Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice & Criminology at the University of Scranton.

“The department will want to consider policy around when the BWC will need to be turned on and off,” Jenkins said in an email.

Will the BWC be on the entire shift, only during interaction with a citizen or will the officer have the discretion to activate it depending upon the situation, Jenkins asked.

Other things to consider are storage; how long, who can access it, can the officer view it any time, is it available to the public, Jenkins added.

In addition to prosecuting alleged criminal defendants, can the BWC video be used in disciplinary hearings and by supervisors to find examples of police mistakes, Jenkins said.

In general, body worn cameras have been shown to improve how police and citizens treat each other, Jenkins said. People act differently when they know their actions are being recorded, he said.

In most interactions, police are already apt to follow procedure and citizens are likely to follow the law, Jenkins said.

“BWC reduce the likelihood that either party will act illegally, but as we’ve seen in any number of videos, it does not solve all our issues of police mistreatment,” Jenkins said.

The cameras will be kept at police headquarters in what Coffay described as “porting stations” that download the information obtained by them while being worn by the officers. The information will be stored off site in Microsoft Azure Government cloud-based service dedicated to federal, state, local and tribal governments, according to information provided to the city by Axon.

Last year the city agreed to a five-year deal worth $392,640 with Axon that also included licensing, warranties, storage and sensors that activate the cameras when an officer draws their weapon and turns on a light bar in their police vehicle.

The cameras played a key role in Mayor George Brown’s effort to establish the seven-member Wilkes-Barre Police Advisory Committee. The volunteer Committee last month was scheduled to meet with King’s College faculty on developing a curriculum to assist in its training.

In June of 2020 as Black Lives Matter demonstrations mounted across the country in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in the custody of Minneapolis police, Brown announced his intention to create the Committee with the aim of working with the department to improve community relations.

The Committee lacked the investigative power of the Citizen Police Review Board proposed by City Councilwoman Beth Gilbert McBride that had some support from the public and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Wilkes-Barre Branch #2306. But the Wilkes-Barre Police Benevolent Association, the union representing city police, raised concerns about language in the ordinance that was eventually voted down 3-2 by City Council last July.

At the time PBA President James Conmy said, “we are behind the acquisition of body cameras for our members to enhance transparency.”

The PBA has had input into the policy being developed for the departmental use of the cameras, Coffay said.

“Initially, police are more suspicious of BWC compared to their citizen counterparts, but after any initial hesitancy, many officers realize the benefits for having the cameras on themselves,” Jenkins said.

BWC offer dual protection, to officers from “frivolous complaints” and citizens from “a questionable police practice,” Jenkins said.

“In fact, BWC footage is much more likely to be used as evidence against a citizen than as evidence of police wrongdoing,” Jenkins said.