Documents suggest sabotage, reluctance to use cameras.Byline: Diane Dietz The Register-GuardThe Eugene Police Department's in-car video camera program arose in the 1990s - and then unraveled, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. e-mail, police reports and other internal documents. The Register-Guard obtained the documents through multiple public records requests. Here's what they show: Sept. 19, 1992 - Eugene police get their first in-car video camera from Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a nonprofit organization with more than 600 chapters nationwide. MADD seeks to find effective solutions to the problems of drunk driving and underage drinking, while also supporting those persons whose relatives and friends have been killed by drunk and other anti-drunken driving groups. In news stories, the cameras are hailed for their excellent picture and sound quality compared with cameras that local police agencies had used the previous two decades. Soon after, the department gets two additional cameras through similar donations. October 1992 - The standard-setting International Association of Chiefs of Police
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) was founded in Chicago in 1893 as the National Chiefs of Police Union. publishes model policies for the use of in-car video cameras. Agencies from across the country borrow from the model when writing their own policies. Dec. 31, 1995 - One of the main uses for patrol cameras is to film drunken drunk·en adj. 1. Delirious with or as if with strong drink; intoxicated. 2. Habitually drunk. 3. Of, involving, or occurring during intoxication: a drunken brawl. driving arrests. The Eugene department's annual drunken driving arrests drop to a decade low of 228, compared with 502 four years earlier. Aug. 5, 1996 - Police Chief Leonard Cooke orders the purchase of video cameras for all patrol-division police cars. The task falls to Lt. Thad Buchanan, who oversees the purchase of 23 units at the price of $3,875 each. Summer 1997 - City records suggest the cameras were installed over the summer, although no records survive to show the exact dates. Aug. 18, 1997 - Repair report: A video camera monitor wire has been pulled loose, the first in more than a dozen instances of breakage to the camera systems' wires and cables. Technicians eventually grow suspicious of the pattern. Oct. 28, 1997 - Repair report: A technician See PC technician and software technician. tests 11 of the in-car video systems, repairing minor problems on the spot and making arrangements to fix others at the city shop. The manufacturer's warranty is good for another month, but the problems apparently aren't serious enough to ask for replacements. Dec. 3, 1997 - Repair report: Camera wiring on a unit is "pulled out" on one end and "cut" at the other. Dec. 23, 1997 - Repair report: Video system antenna missing, video monitor missing, wires loose. Late 1997, early 1998 - Fleet services Fleet is a motorway service station on the M3 near Basingstoke. It is owned by Welcome Break. It was originally built in a Scandinavian style and in 1992 won "Loo of the Year". manager George Jessie reports the technicians' suspicions of sabotage sabotage [Fr., sabot=wooden shoe; hence, to work clumsily], form of direct action by workers against employers through obstruction of work and/or lowering of plant efficiency. Methods range from peaceful slowing of production to destruction of property. to police officials. (There is no record of a subsequent investigation and officials say they can't remember if one was conducted.) April 21, 1998 -Proposed effective date for the Eugene department's general order setting out how officers are to use the video cameras installed in patrol cars the previous year, but the order is never signed. April 29, 1998 - Eugene police union president Ken Saxon Saxon Any member of a Germanic people who lived along the Baltic coast in ancient times and later migrated west as far as the British Isles. The Saxons became pirates in the North Sea during the decline of the Roman empire, and in the early 5th century they spread through writes an e-mail describing "an increased level of paranoia paranoia (pr'ənoi`ə), in psychology, a term denoting persistent, unalterable, systematized, logically reasoned delusions, or false beliefs, usually of persecution or grandeur. " among officers about the cameras. Oct. 20, 1998 -Repair report: Video antenna missing. Oct. 26, 1998 - Repair report: Another video antenna missing. June 30, 1999 - Saxon, the union president, warns that if camera use is mandatory, "I would object and do my labor stuff to prevent it from happening." July 1, 1999 - Repair report: A power lead is disconnected and a camera connector damaged. Nov. 18, 1999 - About 2 1/2 years after the cameras are installed, Lt. Pete Kerns Kerns is a municipality in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland. It has a population of c. 5,200. launches an inquiry into what went wrong with the program. In an e-mail to colleagues, he writes "I'm thinking I should begin by answering questions like: Why doesn't the current program work?" Nov. 19, 1999 - Lt. Ellwood Cushman answers Kerns, saying "Basically, the cameras have sat idle since they were installed ... Some of the cameras (went) into use for a test period to test the policy and procedures we had developed, but no one ever followed through after that - so they have sat idle once again." Nov. 19, 1999 - Jessie answers Kerns' e-mail, saying his department would need a budget to get the cameras up and running. And then he adds, "Not sure why officers do not utilize the equipment and in fact seem to cause damage to the equipment." Jan. 19, 2000 - Officer Jeff Roth urges managers to allow officer discretion over when and how the cameras are used. "Ordering the use of the system I think would be fruitless fruit·less adj. 1. Producing no fruit. 2. Unproductive of success: a fruitless search. See Synonyms at futile. and cause much of what has already been occurring (i.e. disconnected and damaged systems)." April 2000 - Two patrol officers launch a two-week test to determine how in-car cameras could be used in the future. April 20, 2000 - Buchanan, now a captain, writes an e-mail questioning whether the city got all the cameras it had paid for. "It appears to me we are short a few ," he writes. "It's possible the vendor shorted us by nine units." (SpectraTek maintains it fulfilled ful·fill also ful·fil tr.v. ful·filled, ful·fill·ing, ful·fills also ful·fils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. its contract with the city, shipping all 23 camera systems.) July 29, 2000 - Roth makes recommendations to managers, suggesting that supervisors not have free access to an officer's tapes. "I believe management will find great resistance by officers to use the system if they perceive that management will be reviewing their work day looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. minor policy violations in order to discipline them." In a separate e-mail, Saxon seconds the sentiment, saying that Roth speaks for many officers on the issue. July 31, 2000 - Kerns summarizes the results of his inquiry, writing "There is a concern that if supervisors proactively use in-car videos for training, coaching, counseling or discipline, officers may refuse to use them." September 2001 - Roth goes on a broad search - from the halls of Congress to the boardrooms of private business - for grants to buy a new round of cameras. He estimates the cost at $4,270 per unit. April 2002 - A federal grant for covering overtime has allowed officers to push the total DUII DUII Driving (while) Under the Influence of Intoxicants arrests to 579, up from 416 the previous year. The improvement captures a state-level award for the department. The prize: one new in-car video camera system. July 2002 - High-profile police beatings in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). , Oklahoma and Georgia prompt calls for installing video cameras in all police patrol cars nationally as a safeguard against officers who abuse their authority. August 2002 - Capt. Becky Hanson says buying a new round of in-car video cameras is a high priority for Eugene police. The money could come from a federal agency targeting either homeland security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States or racial profiling The consideration of race, ethnicity, or national origin by an officer of the law in deciding when and how to intervene in an enforcement capacity. Police officers often profile certain types of individuals who are more likely to perpetrate crimes. , she says. CAPTION(S): "There is a concern that if supervisors proactively use in-car videos for training, coaching, counseling or discipline, officers may refuse to use them." EUGENE LT. PETE KERNS July 31, 2000, report |
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