Indiana Agency's Policy Mandates Random Inspection of Officers' Body Camera Footage

Changes to the South Bend (IN) Police Department’s body camera policy, approved Wednesday by the city’s Board of Public Safety, require supervisors to randomly inspect officers’ footage and for officers to state a reason before ending a recording.

The policy has been under scrutiny since June after the fatal shooting of a man by a police officer who did not have his camera activated.

Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski told the board Wednesday’s changes provide “another layer of oversight” by supervisors.

The new requirements call for sergeants to randomly sample at least five videos each month from officers they supervise, and to review at least 15 minutes of footage from each subordinate three or more times per year. The sergeants are to check for discrepancies between the videos and officers’ reports, and to pass positive and negative findings up the chain of command, the South Bend Tribune reports.

Another new provision requires an officer, before stopping a recording, to speak into the device with the reason.