...could Shelby's video have been so outrageous as to make city leaders fear it triggering rioting?
I have no idea about potentially outrageous video triggering riots, but in my opinion, the following explanation from a TPD public information officer about the lack of any video
is outrageous:
From the
Tulsa World:
Shelby turned on her police car's rear flashing lights only when stopping to approach Crutcher, which meant her dash camera did not turn on, Sgt. Shane Tuell told reporters Monday.
From
The Frontier:
Shelby’s dash cam was not functioning during the shooting. Tulsa police vehicles work on a three toggle system — when the switch is flipped to “level one,” as Shelby’s car was that night, only the lights in the rear window are active and the siren and camera remain off.
At level two, the overhead lights and camera activate. At three, all lights are on, as are the camera and the siren.
“She had it on one, because it appeared she just thought she came up on a stalled car,” Public Information Officer Shane Tuell said. “You can hear it in her voice, she says, ‘I just came up on an abandoned car.’ ”
After watching four different police videos, I'd say that Betty Shelby had her toggle switch set to at least level two, not to level one. In my opinion, unless it malfunctioned, her camera should have been activated by the toggle system, as explained by Sgt. Tuell.
But today, from Dan Smolen, we're hearing that there are
other ways to activate the camera:
1. Hitting the bumper of the vehicle
2. Pressing a button on a microphone worn on duty belts or elsewhere
3. Pressing the red "RECORD" button on the in-car camera
4. Pressing a button in the in-car computer
Something seems amiss.
Why pay to have the cameras installed and then not activate them? Why not store data from the cameras and keep that information so it can be retrieved later?
From the
Tulsa World, September 8, 2010:
TPD suit ends with dash cameras ordered
A federal judge approved a settlement in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the city of Tulsa. The action ended 16 years of litigation in the class-action case brought by black police officers. U.S. District Judge Terence Kern signed an agreement calling for the city to purchase, install and maintain video cameras for all Tulsa Police Department patrol vehicles over a period of five years. The city was also ordered to pay for data storage of information captured by the cameras.