With nearly three year’s of combined experience with body cameras, both the Meridian Police Department and the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department support recording their actions, but technical and legal bugs remain. 

“With all the events happening nationally, departments are scrambling, trying to figure out how to handle (body cameras),” said Ward Calhoun, the chief deputy of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.

“(Cameras help) the officers to do their very best and I think it gives the community a sense that the department is trying to do everything we can to make sure that officers do the right thing.”

Lauderdale County received body cameras two years ago but switched vendors after experiencing a number of technical issues, including melting chargers.

In the next few weeks, Lauderdale expects to receive a new set of cameras from the new vendor – at no cost – because of reports of overheating batteries.

Ward Calhoun said vendors, in response to the demand, may have prematurely released products. 

“Vendors have been pushing equipment out there and I think … that sometimes they’re putting stuff out on the streets that maybe wasn’t completely tested out. More like, ‘We’ll test it out by putting it in use,’ ” Calhoun said.

The Meridian Police Department purchased 110 cameras in 2015 and started utilizing them in January. All 81 officers and detectives have their own camera, including plainclothes detectives. 

Sgt. Dareall Thompson of the Meridian Police Department said his department initially experienced some technological setbacks, but have adjusted.

“We’re glad to have the body cameras,” Thompson said. “That body camera protects that officer.”

Departments nationwide have struggled with how to store video footage and the costs associated with that storage, developing their own policies to satisfy laws that don’t exist yet.

The state of Mississippi updated its retention schedule for video and audio recordings in January, including both body and car dashboard cameras.

Non-evidentiary recordings, which won’t be used in a case, must be kept for 30 days and evidentiary recordings must be kept one full year after the final disposition of the case and completion of sentence.

Lauderdale County started transferring video from its server to discs after 30 days 10 months ago. But, despite burning nearly 100 discs each month, the county hasn’t decided what to do with the video after the year-long retention requirement.

“We’ve talked about just keeping them,” Calhoun said.

The department would use an industrial shredder if it decided to dispose of the discs, Calhoun said. 

Meridian keeps video considered evidentiary on discs. The department has a policy of never destroying evidence and thus these discs do not have a time limit for storage, Thompson said. 

Still, legal issues with body cameras haven’t been resolved.

No law requires officers to notify the public when recording. The law also has not addressed privacy concerns, such as recording inside someone’s home, recording children involved in domestic violence calls and publicizing the video.

“Part of the policy (to develop) is where do you video? Obviously, there’s concerns about people’s privacy,” Calhoun said. “(But) thus far the courts say it’s OK.”

Departments have developed their own rules about recording. For example, though no state or federal law requires it, Lauderdale County avoids recording in emergency rooms. But, to stay safe, departments try to leave them on.

“These days you don’t know when something’s going to happen, so (the deputies) are very conscientious about when to turn them on,” said John Calhoun, patrol major of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department. “I tell them it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

Future camera models and tools will be able to blur the faces of those not involved in an incident or record the 30 seconds before activating the camera. Currently, the body cameras upload only when docked and dashboard cameras automatically upload when connected to the server through WiFi.

The only way for the public to access the video would be a subpoena through the courts. But neither Meridian nor Lauderdale County have fielded public requests for video. Courts have benefited from video most because it provides visual and auditory evidence against domestic violence disputes or drunk drivers.

Thompson said video evidence could include field sobriety tests or recordings of slurred speech.

“It gives the court the opportunity to see … how that person was acting,” Ward Calhoun said. “We’ve had instances where video made the difference in terms of accurately documenting what occurred.”

Both departments said that having the body cameras helped sort through complaints against officers by providing a first-hand account of the incident in question.

“There’s two sides to every story,” John Calhoun said. “And then there’s the video that you watch.”

“It helps us better document the facts,” Ward Calhoun said.

The body cameras have a downside, too.

“The double-edged sword with video is… if you didn’t have it on, or if it doesn’t show it or it doesn’t show everything then people will tend to say ‘Well, what’s it hiding?’ Well, it’s not hiding anything it just didn’t work that day – whatever reason that may be,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun said everyone experienced technological malfunctions – whether they purchased a new cellphone, laptop or body camera. But when body cameras don’t work, it adds an additional layer of scrutiny for law enforcement.

“That’s the bad side of video. When it doesn’t work or it isn’t functioning properly now the officer’s called into question simply because the technology didn’t work,” Calhoun said. “Twenty years ago that officer’s word was enough. Today, that’s not the case.”