The plan to equip Ely police officers with body cameras has moved forward with the draft of a city policy defining and regulating their use.
That policy is now up for public review and posted on the city’s website (www.ely. mn.us), and will be subject to a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 7.
The same day, council members could take action to approve it and set the stage for Ely police to joint numerous other law enforcement agencies across the state and nation in wearing body cameras.
The 11-page policy includes statements of purpose, policy and scope and definitions.
At the crux of the policy are various guidelines for use.
According to the policy, officers shall activate their cameras when they become involved in or reasonably anticipate being involved in a pursuit, traffic stop, search and seizure, use of force, adversarial contact or during other activities likely to yield information or have evidentiary value.
The policy grants exceptions including that officers need not activate their cameras when it may be unsafe, impossible or impractical to do so.
Officers have discretion to record or not record general citizen contacts, and the officers have no duty to inform people that the cameras are on or that they are being recorded.
Officers must continue recording until the conclusion of an incident, although the cameras may be temporarily muted to exchange information with other officers or legal counsel. Officers are not to intentionally block the camera’s audio or visual recording functionality to defeat the purposes of the policy.
The policy advises officers to use the cameras during the transportation of persons in their custody to jails, detention facilities, hospitals, detox and mental health facilities, but they’re advised not to use the cameras within those facilities unless they anticipate a criminal event or adversarial encounter.
Officers need not record persons being provided medical care unless there’s a reason to believe the recording would have evidentiary value.
The policy requires body camera data files to be stored, with files to be flagged to indicate if files contain information about subjects who may have data privacy rights, ranging from juveniles, victims and alleged victims of abuse, and others.
The policy allows for the files to be viewed by others, when an incident results in death by force, with files released and classified as public within 14 days unless it is determined that public classification would interfere with an ongoing investigation.
O ther body camera classified as public includes data that documents the final disciplinary action against a public employee, data that records or documents use of force by an officer that results in bodily harm, discharge of a firearm, or if a data subject request it be made public.
The policy prohibits altering, erasing or destroying any body camera data prior to the expiration of a data retention period, and personally owned devices shall not be programmed to review body camera data.
The police chief or a designee will randomly review body camera usage by each officer at least once a month, according to the policy, and body cameras may be used as data of evidence of police misconduct or as a basis for discipline.
All body camera data must be retained for at least 90 days, according to the policy, and certain data must be kept for a minimum of one year, with data documenting use of force by an officer to be retained for a minimum of seven years.
Last month, Ely police chief Chad Houde said it was time “to start the process” of equipping Ely officers with body cameras, saying it was time to catch up with other agencies and contending the cameras would be a tool for improving transparency.
Budget estimates show that adding body cameras may cost about $38,000 over a five-year span, including software, licensing and equipment.
Houde said last month that he’s hopeful that public safety aid would fund some of the costs.
But at least for now, any purchase is on hold until the public has a chance to weigh in.
Public comments will be taken at the public hearing, which is set for 5 p.m., on Oct. 7 at City Hall.
