William Fix

ENC2135
Interview/Transcript 3 Genre Project
Whitney Gilchrist

William Fix [W.F.]: Im here to ask Paul Fix a few questions regarding the
use of body cameras and their use by police. Paul is a lieutenant with the
Margate Police department and has been a sworn law enforcement officer for
over 30 years. Thank you for taking for time to answer these questions.

Paul Fix [P.F.]: Of course

W.F.: Lets get started. Do you feel that there is mistrust between the public
and police, and if so, why?

P.F.: Well, personally I believe that it depends on where in an area you are
talking about. Some areas, typically those with lower socioeconomic
demographics tend to have a different social climate and tend to be less
trust worthy of cops. Sometimes it has to do with education and childrens
home lives. Children may not always have their parents around to supervise,
which may allow kids to get into trouble, which is where the police become
involved. If they grow up having encounters, especially bad ones with police,
they may intern grow up with a negative attitude towards police. It all
generally just depends.

W.F.: What laws and other implications are there for using body cameras on
police?

P.F.: Well there is the interception of oral communication, which is meant to

be private, whether by a citizen or by an officer, and using these cameras
may unintentionally capture conversation, which may have a negative
impact if someone else gets ahold of the video/audio. Obviously, in public
there is no privacy, so interactions may be recorded between citizens and
officers, but even then, these cameras may capture personal information
that is viewed during a police interaction, things may have been seen at a
crime scene or other incident, violence between people, etc. these could
have consequences if the videos were released to the public or someone got
their hands on the footage.

W.F.: Why do you feel that the use of cameras hasnt spread faster in recent
years and currently?
P.F.: Individual state laws can hold back the usage of these cameras. Some
states have legislation in place that prevents the police from recording
people against their will, especially in public or in their homes during
consensual encounters. As well as per state, there are also many
constitutional provisions against police recording citizens, so all of this must
be worked out by state, and municipal legislature before they can even
consider being implemented. On top of the concept of recording overall,
there are statutes that constitute when you can and cant record.

W.F.: Aside from the legislature, what about the cost of the cameras? Do you
feel that this plays a role?

P.F.: Yes, there is a lot to these cameras. You must buy each physical
camera, then pay to have software and computers to retain the data and
video they capture. There is a lot of cost that goes into their use, which may
be why a lot of place do not have them.

W.F.: Do you think every agency should equip their officers with cameras?

P.F.: Thats a difficult question, but generally, the use of cameras is up to the
agencies and their communities. If a community see enough need for them,
they can have them implemented by their local government, and vice versa.
Some communities may not see a need for them.

W.F.: What do you feel are the biggest Pros and Cons to their use?

P.F.: Well some of the benefits are that the citizens and officers are both
recorded in precise detail, which from an evidentiary standpoint, its very
useful. This can be used to help support or disprove allegations by the
citizens about officers. The drawbacks might be the accidental recording of
private information and conversations, and as I said before, this can have big
consequences if someone else gets their hands on it.

W.F.: Are there any instances where you wish that you had a body camera?

P.F.: I cant think of any times specifically, but just in general when there is
the question of peoples narratives, putting peoples words against each
other, it would be incredibly useful to have the camera to go back and review
the footage and use it to write even more precise reports. This falls back into
what I also said about people making false reports and claims against the
police.

W.F.: Anything else you would like to add?

P.F.: I feel like cameras are still fairly new in the aspect of being added to
police as part of their regular jobs. I feel that over the next 10 years, most
departments will possess and operate them. It will just depend on how
quickly states work out the legislations for their use.

W.F.: Alright, thank you very much for your time!