Forget bodycams; dashcams rare in Tampa Bay

TAMPA BAY, Florida – Even as more and more police agencies introduce body-worn cameras to their officers’ arsenal, most major law enforcement agencies around West/Central Florida continue to resist adding the most traditional kind of oversight cameras – those mounted to a dashboard.

A 10Investigates survey of the area’s 12 largest police departments and sheriff’s offices indicates only three agencies outfit more than 10 percent of their cruisers with dashcams: Pinellas sheriff's office, and police departments in Tampa and Lakeland. Only two of the 12 agencies use bodycams: Tampa and the Pasco Sheriff's Office.

At the remaining agencies, video of officers’ interactions with the public typically go unrecorded.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which has 2,118 sworn deputies and 1,200 deputy cruisers, has just 19 dashcams on its cruisers. The agency declined multiple interview requests and has previously indicated there are too many questions regarding policies and privacy to consider using bodycamera technology.
UPDATE: HCSO spokesman Larry McKinnon said the agency declined interviews because its stance has not changed in recent years: the sheriff has numerous hesitations about the implementation of cameras.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office, with 653 sworn deputies and 541 deputy cruisers, doesn’t have a single dashcam in its fleet. Sheriff Grady Judd has said it was a “personal preference,” and told 10Investigates “One camera angle does not tell the truth any more than the opportunities for it to distort."

Judd also repeatedly turned questions about the cameras around on the 10Investigates reporter, criticizing both the national and local media.

"What we need is professionalism by the news media to be responsible to put it in the proper context and you're not doing that,” Judd said.

WATCH: UNCUT RESPONSE FROM SHERIFF JUDD

Judd suggested cameras were unnecessary at his agency, given its track record of integrity and law enforcement accreditations. Agency statistics show PCSO had an average of just 114 “protective action occurrences,” or physical deputy incidents, per year since 2013; a rate of one per every 3,162 interactions with the public.

Judd also said Polk County residents are more than four times more likely to be struck by lightning than have an incident with a PCSO deputy; however, 454 people were not struck by lightning in Polk County last year; the number appears to be under a dozen.

But Judd isn’t the only one who maintains cameras shouldn’t be relied upon for law enforcement oversight.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who has outfitted nearly 90% of his agency’s cruisers with dashcams, has balked at the suggestion of using body-worn cameras.

"There’s a big difference between body cameras and dash cameras,” said Gualtieri. “Body cameras, (may be) worn all the time; they’re single-vision; they only capture a certain image; they don’t tell the whole story.”

RELATED: New York Times challenges beliefs on bodycams

Gualtieri added concern that body cameras may be seen as a solution to officer relation issues across the country.

“If we have to resort to technology to deal with a trust issue between law enforcement and the public, then we’re in a bad situation.”

The Tampa Police Department is the only large agency in the Greater Tampa Bay area that uses both bodycameras and dashcameras. An agency spokesperson said the technology has helped TPD save money by speeding up investigations and quickly disposing of frivolous complaints and lawsuits.

The agency has also used the cameras to capture acts of heroism.

“As long as I'm doing my job, that camera can only help me,” said TPD Officer Nyles Rice. “I love it. ... I'm definitely for transparency in police work."

DASHCAMERAS AND BODYCAMERAS BY AGENCY

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