Juneau police officers may be wearing body cameras within four months. That’s according to Chief Bryce Johnson who said he looks forward to equipping officers with the first few cameras when they arrive.
In the investigation of December’s officer-involved shooting, Johnson said he didn’t think body camera footage would’ve added much because there already was so much “compelling evidence.” There were witness statements, an officer’s digital audio recording, dash camera video from an officer’s vehicle and a witness’s cell phone video.
“The body camera, in theory, would capture the perspective of the officer so it would let you see what they were seeing into that car. But that would just be a guess,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if it would have captured something more helpful in this case or not.”
In that instance, Sgt. Chris Gifford fired a single shot at Jeremie Tinney while he was in the back of his vehicle in a ditch along Ocean View Drive. Gifford fired because he saw Tinney aim what appeared to be a rifle at him and another officer. Gifford was cleared.
The Juneau Assembly in November approved spending $19,360 as a partial match for a federal grant to purchase enough cameras for 40 officers.
The Kodiak Police Department equipped officers with body cameras, but shelved them because of what the chief called privacy concerns with the footage and problems with the camera’s functionality. That was about a year after the Kodiak Daily Mirror sued to retrieve footage of an autistic man being pepper sprayed by officers. The Kodiak police chief has since committed to reinstating the use of body cams, this time with a different model.
