Especially ironic since the original push for cameras was the result of the murder of Officer Gus Spanos. One would think a cop who felt threatened would activate their camera if it could still be done after they had left their cruiser, although reading the following article, it appears some officers don’t like being on camera:
Throwback Tulsa: Police cameras and the legacy of Officer Gus Spanos
The murder of a 24-year-old rookie Tulsa police officer during a traffic stop shocked the community in 1993.
Spanos had been an offensive lineman on the University of Tulsa football team and earned a bachelor’s degree in education before entering the police academy.
He and his wife, Christie, were nearing their second anniversary and had lived in their new southside brick home for only two months. She told Tulsa World reporter David Fallis that Spanos loved his job, his life and kids.
“I think he touched a lot of the northside kids’ hearts,” she said.
His death resulted in a fund drive that raised more than $500,000 to buy and install camcorders in 117 of the 400 Tulsa police cars.
Spanos had radioed a dispatcher shortly before 2 a.m. on April 22, 1993, and provided a tag number and description of a car he had pulled over on 58th Street North, just east of Cincinnati Avenue.
Minutes later, a fellow officer found Spanos lying unconscious in a pool of blood in the street about 10 feet from his car. His gun, which had not been fired, was nearby.
Spanos died the next day of massive brain damage from a shot that struck him behind the right ear, the medical examiner said. He is among 39 Tulsa police officers killed in the line of duty.
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Doug Horn said Kimbrough “assassinated” Spanos to avoid arrest on outstanding drug and firearms warrants and because he had $27,000 worth of cocaine in his possession.
Kimbrough was convicted of first-degree murder on May 25, 1994. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after the jury deadlocked 10-2 on the death penalty. He also received a life sentence for cocaine trafficking.
Shortly after the Spanos shooting, a Tulsa woman launched “Camcorders for Cops,” a fundraising drive to equip Tulsa police patrol cars with camcorders.
“The tragic shooting of Officer Spanos and the escape of the perpetrator demonstrates a great need for this equipment,” Gloria DeMier said.
Her husband, Tulsa County assistant district attorney Fred DeMier, said he believed the cameras would be a deterrent to anyone considering assaulting an officer.
Their son, Fred DeMier Jr., was a retired police officer who had survived being shot by a mental patient in 1981.
As a result of the fund drive, Tulsa Police Chief Ron Palmer said in October 1993 that his department would soon have 120 video cameras in its patrol cars.
“We’re going to be breaking a lot of new ground,” Palmer said of a metropolitan area putting the new technology into such wide usage.
However, a University of Tulsa law professor cautioned that the cameras opened a “Pandora’s Box” that would force police to address far-reaching issues such as privacy and the handling of evidence.
A year later, some officers said they had pulled the plug on the cameras, fearing that the tapes were being monitored by supervisors or the Internal Affairs Unit.
“There’s some apprehension,” said one officer, who asked not to be identified. “They’re a great tool for DUIs, but they can be used against you. That’s what bothers us. It’s like Big Brother watching over your shoulder.”
Others said the cameras malfunctioned frequently, were a hassle to use and obscured the view because they were attached to the windshield.
By 1998, only 69 of the units were still being used and a decade after Gus Spanos died, the camera program had been abandoned.
In 2010, a federal judge approved a settlement between black police officers and the city of Tulsa, requiring the city to install cameras in police cars and maintain them for five years.
The city spent $4 million for the equipment. But the computer processors that worked with the dash cameras proved too weak and the Sprint network connection had dead spots.
The problems persisted and only about 200 of the department’s 500 patrol cars have functioning dash cameras, officials said in September.
Meanwhile, the department has plans to outfit its 700-plus officers with body cameras this year at a cost of $1.2 million. Half of the money is from a Department of Justice matching grant. The goal is to increase trust and accountability between law enforcement agencies and their communities.
Sand Springs has used body cameras for over seven years. Other area cities using them include Owasso, Muskogee, Tahlequah, Okmulgee and Henryetta.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/news/throwbacktulsa/throwback-tulsa-police-cameras-and-the-legacy-of-officer-gus/article_182e3dfa-ab55-52a7-b3f8-484f8a968cb7.html
