SLO County sheriff installed cameras in patrol cars in wake of Rodney King beating
Gil Scott Heron predicted in his 1971 song that “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”
He did not anticipate that the popularity of smart phones would put a camera in almost every pocket — or that livestreaming video would become as simple as finding a Wi-Fi signal.
Cameras are not just stationed at bank counters. They can be found everywhere from door bells to highway lamp posts to gas stations.
Today, videos are regularly sought by investigators — and it’s common for video evidence to be admitted to court in support of law enforcement agencies or to rebut their claims.
Still, video footage can be open to interpretation. The same video of an incident can result in two different verdicts.
Four Los Angeles Police Department officers charged in the 1991 beating of unarmed Black man Rodney King, which was caught on camera, were acquitted in a criminal trial held in suburban Ventura.
Two of those officers were convicted in a subsequent federal civil rights trial in Los Angeles.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office was one of the first local agencies to install video cameras in its patrol vehicles. This article by Danna Dykstra Coy, published on Aug. 17, 1992, explains what supporters hoped to accomplish.
Candid cameras join crime watch
Four sheriff’s patrol cars have new partners with keen eyes that don’t lie.
Video systems have been installed in cars in the South County, North County, Coast Area and in a car used by the Gang Task Force to record criminal activity.
The $6,000 systems include a video camera located behind a rear-view mirror, a recording unit in the trunk and a video monitor on the dashboard.
They also include a portable microphone to pick up sounds.
The tamper-proof systems will be used as evidence in court cases and for training, according to sheriff’s Capt. Bill Crout.
“What it basically does is ensure an impartial, unbiased partner in the car that can provide testimony quite graphically,” Crout said.
The first two systems were purchased with narcotics forfeiture money. The second two systems — installed in cars this week — were purchased by the Sheriff’s Advisory Board and with Gang Task Force grant money.
Given the current budget crisis, Crout said the department doesn’t expect to receive any more of the systems for a while.
He does expect they’ll save the department money in the long run, by reducing court costs fighting “frivolous false claims.”
Crout said the systems should also reduce court time for officers and time spent dealing with citizen complaints about deputies.
“It won’t be a matter of having to question what happened (in a particular incident),” he said.
Deputies will use their own discretion on when to use the systems, Crout said, but typical scenarios would be traffic stops, pursuits or crimes in progress.
He said the department welcomes the increased scrutiny of police activities, particularly in light of recent videotaped cases like the Rodney King beating.
“If people were to see what we did day-to-day, I expect we’d be vindicated a vast majority of the time.”
