ATLANTA — A new Atlanta police policy on bodycams is likely to be one of the metro area’s toughest. It calls for lengthy suspensions and firing police officers who fail to activate them.
There are other potential ramifications. Police haven’t told us how much money APD makes on asset seizures, but the bodycam policy may limit the department’s ability to participate in joint operations with federal authorities – which can result in asset seizures of millions of dollars.
The bodycam policy is the result of a raid in January in which an Atlanta police officer shot and killed an alleged unarmed fugitive named Jimmy Atchison. His family said he was hiding in a closet. The officer didn’t wear a bodycam.
Now Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said she wants strong penalties for officers who fail to activate their body camera: for the first offense - a 16 day suspension - and firing for the second offense.
"Down the road yes, that will be – that will absolutely be in place," Shields told the city council's public safety committee April 23.
The APD officer who shot Atchison was serving on an FBI task force when the incident occurred. Chief Shields said the bodycam policy will apply to officers participating on federal task forces.
"If they’re going to stay on the task forces, they too will be wearing body worn cameras and the same (standard operating procedure) and discipline will apply to them," Shields told council members.
But because federal policy doesn’t allow bodycams – the new policy could exclude Atlanta police from federal task forces. That means, APD would lose the cash often seized during those operations, says former Atlanta detective Ken Allen.
“Obviously there’s going to be changes or there’s going to be nonparticipation in it ourselves, in those task forces,” Allen told 11Alive News.
Allen also thinks the proposed punishment is too extreme. We’ve surveyed some other large police departments about their bodycam disciplinary policy.
Cobb County police have a policy, but it doesn’t appear to include any specific discipline for not using them.
Gwinnett County police have a policy that requires police who fail to use their bodycams to write a report explaining why – a far cry from the suspensions and firings Atlanta police appear likely to face, once the policy is enacted.
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