A committee studying potential policing policy reforms met again yesterday and Chair Cleo Fields, a Democratic Baton Rouge area State Senator, questioned new State Police Superintendent Lamar Davis on dash and body camera policy.
Fields had some concerns about the department’s policy regarding cameras, and the discovery that troopers have the technical ability to turn off a dash or body camera at their discretion. Davis countered that turning off a body camera is only permitted in certain situations.
Davis also informed the committee that troopers are subjected to random screenings of their video-recorded interactions with the public.
Fields line of questioning also revealed that there have been some incidents where an officer had turned their camera off at a time where it would have been helpful to an investigation had the camera been on. Davis then said in those situations the trooper would be given additional training or potentially disciplined if they did turn off a camera at an inappropriate time.
Fields seemed to back implementing a policy barring officers from turning off their cameras while performing their duties.
“Do you think that is a good practice to allow an officer to turn off and on their dash camera?” Fields asked Davis, who responded, “We give them discretion in the performance of their duties.”
The State Police Legislative Liaison then recounted situations, such as bathroom breaks, where a blanket policy of automatic recording might be inappropriate.
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