DETROIT – One week from Tuesday, Detroit will deploy body cameras for police officers. It’s a 60-day “try before you buy” period.
Local 4 Defender Kevin Dietz exposes a secret setting on the body cameras that the cops working the beat and the chief of police did not know about. It allows bosses the ability to use the body cameras to spy on officers when they think the cameras are turned off.
Imagine your boss has the power to secretly flip a switch and start recording you, even when you are on break or going to the bathroom. The new body cam system gives top brass at the Detroit Police Department the option to do that, and until now, police officers had no idea.
Detroit police said they are ready for body cams. Flip a switch and instantly they have video of any interaction between a cop and a civilian. Car dashcams have helped in local cases like the police beating in Inkster, in which an officer went to jail for assaulting a motorist. Body cams are designed to get up close and personal, catching what the car camera misses.
But as Detroit City Council was voting to pay the company WatchGuard Video $5 million for new cameras, a controversy involving WatchGuard erupted 350 miles away in Round Lake Park, Illinois, just north of Chicago.
"In order for police officers to use these cams on the street, to use them correctly on the street, the officers have to trust that their own bosses are going to be straight with them," Shelli Weisberg, legislative director at American Civil Liberties Union Michigan, said.
The Defenders traveled to the small Illinois town, where we confirmed police officers had been secretly recorded by their bosses with WatchGuard body cameras for eight months. A secret setting in the system allowed top brass to keep cameras rolling after officers went on break. Police were secretly videotaped in the locker room and while going to the bathroom.
Most people Local 4 News spoke to said they want cops recorded for their entire shift.
"I think it should be 24/7," David Pugh, of Illinois, said. "If you start turning it off, then it's going to be very conveniently off if there's an abuse of power."
"It's a little bit of an invasion of your privacy, but it's for the greater good," Janet Borden, of Highland Park, Illinois, said.
But some said bosses should record video of the officers on duty, not on bathroom breaks.
"Who wants to know what they are doing in the restroom?" Tommy Halling, of Canton, said. "If it's an authorized break, then no. They don't need to know."
"No one should be monitored 24 hours a day on their job," Weisberg said.
Weisberg is working with lawmakers on to regulate what should be videotaped on body cams, who can review the videotapes and if the media should have access to them. She said what Local 4 Defenders found in Illinois must be addressed.
"I think the state government needs to step in and say that these parameters need to be met, and that should be one of the parameters: that is met that the chief or police organizations cannot override those settings on the body camera," Weisberg said.
So what went wrong? And could it happen here in Detroit? The police chief in Round Lake Park told Local 4 the company WatchGuard has a secret setting on its body cams that keep the cameras always rolling, sending video to a computer server. The chief said he did not know the cameras were secretly recording police officers' bathroom breaks and suspended the program until an investigation is complete.
Weisburg said this can break the trust in an already difficult relationship
"Right now we're in a place where there's very little trust between the police and the public, and this adds to that lack of trust," she said.
So does Detroit have the secret setting? The Defenders have confirmed they do, but Chief James Craig knew nothing about it until we told him. He said he doesn't like it and and will make it policy not to use it, and punish those who do.
"As soon as we finish this interview I'm going to follow up, because what I'd like to do is when they start deploying the cameras that they disable that function," Craig said.
The company WatchGuard said the function cannot be disabled and insisted every department is made aware of the setting and trained on how to use it.
Detroit police checked and found out program administers were aware. The chief said he now wants everyone to know about it and that he will not allow it to be activated.
"So if Big Brother is watching always, they can't have private conversations," Craig said. "They might be disciplining their child and, God forbid, a bathroom break. That just seems wrong, and we don't want that here."
Detroit has a 60-day testing period before deciding to go through with the $5 million purchase.
The ACLU said it will begin immediately working on legislation to address the issue of secretly recording officers.
The police officers in Illinois have obtained a lawyer to see if they were being spied on and to explore a civil rights violation lawsuit.