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Lakewood Police Department Policy and Procedure |
Effective Date: 12/03/2021 | |
| Policy Number: PP-4535 BWC ACTIVATION AND RECORDING |
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B. Procedure
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Lakewood Police Department Policy and Procedure |
Effective Date: 12/03/2021 | |
| Policy Number: PP-4535 BWC ACTIVATION AND RECORDING |
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1. Officers should activate the BWCs whenever they are engaging in officer-initiated contact with a citizen and if they believe the use of the BWC would provide documentation of a citizen interaction or during any encounter that has or may become adversarial.
2. Officers must remain sensitive to the dignity of all individuals being recorded and exercise sound discretion to respect privacy as limited by law.
3. Colorado law permits an individual to surreptitiously record any conversation in which one party to the conversation has given their permission (CRS § 18-9-303). Officers may surreptitiously record any conversation during a criminal investigation when the officer reasonably believes a recording will be lawful and beneficial to the investigation.
4. Court and administrative hearings are exempt from the requirements of BWC activation.
5. Officers actively working in an undercover capacity are not required to wear or activate a BWC.
6. Exigent circumstances may occur, making it unsafe, impossible, or impractical to begin BWC recording at the onset of an officer's response to an incident. The Lakewood Police Department recognizes there are circumstances where officers may unexpectedly become involved in a situation requiring immediate action to prevent injury, make an arrest and/or prevent the destruction of evidence or escape. When these situations occur, officers must activate the BWC unless doing so places them or others in jeopardy. If the immediate activation of the BWC is not feasible due to an immediate risk to the safety of the officer or others, the officer will activate the BWC at the first available opportunity after the immediate threat or situation has been addressed. Officer safety takes precedence over recording events or the activation of the BWC.
1. Officers shall activate the BWC's recording mode shortly before arriving on scene when responding to a call for service, entering into a premise to enforce the law, or in response to a call for service during a welfare check or during any interaction with the public initiated by the police to enforce the law or investigate possible violations of the law.
2. Officers shall activate the BWC's during the discovery and collection of evidence and duration of a lawful search. This includes both audio and video recording.
3. If asked if BWCs are in use, officer shall answer in the affirmative unless extraordinary circumstances dictate otherwise.
4. When an officer is unable to immediately activate the BWC, at their first reasonable opportunity to do so, the officer shall:
a. Activate the BWC and begin to record.
b. Record the reason why the incident was not immediately activated at the beginning of the incident and document that reason in an Incident Report.
5. It would not be viewed as a policy violation if the camera was not activated or activated late due to exigency or the camera became detached during a struggle or other incident. If an officer fails to activate their BWC, fails to record the entire contact, or interrupts the recording, the officer shall document why the recording was not made, interrupted, or terminated.
6. If any officer is found to have intentionally failed to adhere to this policy, appropriate disciplinary action shall be taken.