The absence of body-camera footage — because of malfunction or misuse — has another kind of power. It can rob police, prosecutors, defense attorneys and citizens of the ability to know what really happened during an incident.
Law enforcement officials from across the Quad Cities and the top prosecutors from Scott and Rock Island counties said body cameras are crucial in efforts to protect officers, investigate cases, and for keeping cops accountable to the public. A pair of cases from the Quad Cities are examples of the importance of body-camera footage.
'A TOOL ... FOR ESTABLISHING THE TRUTH'
On Sept. 3, 2020, Bettendorf Police Officer Patrick Mesick shot and killed a man named Timothy Clevenger as he held a 3-year-old at knifepoint. The shooting at a day care was recorded by Mesick's body camera, capturing footage that showed a violent assault against a child and the split-second action by the officer to eliminate the threat.
When Clevenger arrived he had purchased a fillet knife and machete just 15 minutes before going to the house.
Once inside, he ordered three adults and four children into the basement. He kept the little girl with him and intended to have firearms delivered to the house, police later learned.
As the door to the room where Clevenger held the child was forced open, an image came into focus on the video: Clevenger was on one knee with the child in front of his body, one arm around her neck and the knife sheath pressed to her throat.
Mesick fired one shot from the doorway. It struck Clevenger in the head, and before his body hit the floor, another officer swept in and grabbed the girl, cooing over and over, "Come on, baby. Come on, baby."
All of it was captured by the body camera, and then- Scott County Attorney Mike Walton needed little time to decide Mesick's decision to shoot was justified.
There are seven major law enforcement agencies in the Quad Cities: The sheriff's departments of Scott and Rock Island Counties, as well as police departments from Bettendorf, Davenport, East Moline, Moline and Rock Island. Over 500 officers at those agencies wear body cameras.
Mesick is one of 49 Bettendorf police officers who wear cameras on the job. All 17 of the city's patrol cars are outfitted with dash cameras.
Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham has been a prosecutor since 1990 and thinks body and dash cameras have advantages and disadvantages.
From her perspective, law enforcement adopted body and vehicle cameras to help deal with false reports people make against officers. The cameras were a step toward providing officers with protection against such accusations.
Cunningham thinks the public too often presumes allegations made against law enforcement are true, "but a lot are false."
"So we view it (camera footage) as a tool that was necessary for establishing the truth of what was actually occurring during those encounters," Cunningham said.
Cunningham pointed out one of the drawbacks of cameras: Court proceedings have become, in her words, "more complicated." In the past, trials revolved around more traditional evidence and witnesses and might take a few days. Cunningham said trials take longer today because of the need to present camera footage.
Davenport has the area's largest police force, and all 155 officers are equipped with body cameras. Every car in the fleet of 44 has dashboard cameras.
All of the equipment can generate a lot of footage.
Cunningham also pointed to the extra layer of responsibility for officials created by the need to maintain footage as evidence. Those new responsibilities also require resources.
"People want to think that it's a real positive, but quite honestly, it's creating a real strain on the criminal justice system," Cunningham said.
Cunningham doesn't think body cameras alone tell the story of police conduct. She said prosecutors still have to look at witness testimony and the accounts of police officers.
"You're going to look at all of it," Cunningham said. "So it's still the same in terms of the investigative process — the investigative process is the investigative process.
"What you see relative to the naked eye, when you're immersed within a situation, is a lot different than what you see from the narrow lens of a camera."
MISSING FOOTAGE CAN BE CRUCIAL
One case in the Quad Cities illuminates to just how crucial missing body camera footage can be.
Jaylan Butler was traveling with the Eastern Illinois University men's swim team on the night of Feb. 24, 2019, when the team bus pulled over for a dinner break at the rest area southwest of the I-80 bridge.
Moments later, Butler was on the ground with officers from multiple police agencies standing over him. Police from Hampton and East Moline, as well as at least two deputies from the Rock Island County Sheriff's Department, were involved in the arrest. They thought he fit the description of a Black man suspected of firing a gun at a vehicle on I-80 in Henry County, then fleeing.
Former Hampton Police Officer Ethan Bush was among six officers who took Butler to the ground. On the video from Bush's body camera, obtained by the Quad City Times/Dispatch-Argus through a Freedom of Information request, the events leading up to the encounter at the rest area and following it were clearly visible. However, the portion containing the mistaken apprehension of Butler was missing entirely.
Butler and the driver of the bus said that officers pointed guns at Butler, threatened to "blow his (expletive) head off," and one of them used a knee to hold him on the ground. The officers denied the actions and claimed Butler "resisted arrest."
In his report from the night of Feb. 24, 2019, Bush wrote that his body camera was accidentally turned off "on multiple instances ... due to equipment, including the AR-15 sling making contact with the on/off."
In a news release, Rock Island County State's Attorney Dora Villarreal said the "State's Attorney's Civil Division is committed to defending the Office of the Sheriff and the deputies involved in this litigation and anticipates that a thorough discovery process will develop a more complete picture of the events that occurred on Feb. 24, 2019."
The ACLU took up Butler's representation in a civil action against the officers and departments involved with the incident. The ACLU did drop its suit against two Rock Island County Sheriff's deputies and two unnamed officers. The lawsuit had accused them of false arrest, excessive detention, excessive force, battery and failure of bystander officer to interfere in an unconstitutional arrest, among other claims.
But that didn't clear all the officers. Butler was awarded separate settlements from the East Moline Police Department and from Bush.
The East Moline Police Department and Officer Travis Staes reached a settlement agreement with Butler that awarded him $50,000. A settlement also was reached with Bush, who was separated from the Hampton Police Department several months after the incident. The Hampton Police Department was not responsible for the Butler financial settlement, and the terms of the agreement were not required to be made public.
CAMERA FOOTAGE USED TO REVIEW OFFICER CONDUCT
Body-camera footage has played important roles in a number of other cases.
Villarreal has reviewed the conduct of a number of police and correctional officers in Rock Island County who used force — including instances where police shot people, as well as two incidents in which correctional officers were accused of battering inmates at the county jail.
In all of those cases, body camera and other video footage were pivotal in deciding whether the actions of the involved officials were appropriate, Villarreal said.
The four correctional officers were fired and prosecuted for their behavior. The police officers involved in the shootings were exonerated.
"Here locally, I think that almost every single body-worn camera that I have reviewed has exonerated officers," Villarreal said.
Villarreal is satisfied with the county's review process for use-of-force cases. That process includes a task force of local and state law enforcement conducting the investigation and presenting its findings to Villarreal's office.
Once she has the report, it's Villarreal's job to make a ruling on whether an officer's conduct was justified.
She thinks police are probably the biggest advocates for body-worn cameras because they can exonerate an officer whose conduct is questioned.
The cameras can prove good conduct as well as bad, Villarreal said.
"I was a defense attorney when body cameras first started to come out here locally, and I knew that the officers were not fans of them," she said. "They did not want them.
"And now I don't think there's any officer here locally that will tell you that they don't think they're great."
Since the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Villarreal said, local law enforcement has been more restrained in its approach to calls.
"They're a lot more worried that something might be perceived as wrong even though a lot of times they are jeopardizing their own safety," Villarreal said.
Villarreal did admit officers being more deliberate in their actions can also be a positive. She thinks as time passes more transparency and accountability will be baked into policing.
"We've had very, very good experiences with body-worn cameras and been able to provide that accountability, that transparency," she said. "And I continue to believe that that is extremely important and we continue to strive to do that."
'Video is something we want for transparency'
A complete recording of the Jaylan Butler incident could have helped investigators understand what officers were seeing and thinking during their interaction with the collegiate swimmer.
Instead the footage offered a gap during the most crucial moments of the incident.
Illinois State Police said they were looking for Frank Maquan Scott, 25, of Cedar Rapids based on vehicle information from the shooting. While Scott was 6-foot-6 and weighed 230 pounds, Butler was 5-foot-10 and weighed 160 pounds.
The only similarity between the two is they are Black males.
East Moline Police Chief Jeff Ramsey declined to talk about the specifics of the Butler case and if it impacted policing and accountability in the East Moline department.
"I won't get into detail on this because it was a civil case and it was settled," Ramsey said.
He did say policing is as transparent as ever, and that there are state laws, policies and directives in place that the department follows to ensure that it holds its officers accountable for their actions.
"We have those processes in place and we take them very seriously," Ramsey said.
Ramsey pointed out that body cameras were implemented about 18 months ago and officers now would not leave the station without their cameras. All 37 officers on the force have body cameras, and the 20 vehicles in the fleet have dash cams.
"We want video," he said. "Video is something that we want for transparency. The officers want it because they feel that it protects them in some situations."
Cameras protect the public as well, Ramsey said, and indicated the department's policy on body cameras is governed by state law. That policy includes review of footage recorded while officers are working.
"As part of our body camera program, the supervisors are checking video randomly," Ramsey said. He added the department would not tolerate an officer violating the law or the rights of citizens.
"Those are things that, if we get a complaint, we take very seriously," Ramsey said.
Rock Island County Sheriff Darren Hart echoed much of what Ramsey said, noting body cameras have brought accountability to both sides of the interactions between law enforcement and the public.
"Everybody wants body cameras," Hart said.
The Rock Island County Sheriff's Department has 65 body cameras and 60 patrol officers. All 42 vehicles in the fleet are equipped with dashboard cameras.
If he can get the funding, Hart said, he wants to expand the camera usage in the sheriff's office by giving them to the county's jail staff.
Should there be a complaint about a deputy, the sheriff's office has a process in place, overseen by its professional standards division, Hart said. That process includes gathering evidence like video and discussing the issue with the complainant.
"We need to be held accountable, just like, you know, the public that we serve," Hart said.
While Illinois' SAFE-T Act has provided opportunities for Illinois law enforcement agencies to get body cameras, Rock Island County and the Rock Island Police Department were equipping their deputies and officers earlier.
"We were ahead of the curve," Hart said. "We've (the sheriff's office) had those since 2019."
Like other agencies, Rock Island County spot-checks body camera footage, Hart said.
"It's for officer safety," Hart said. "It's for accountability."
Camera footage is used in court cases, Hart said. The footage also is used as a training tool for deputies.
Tim McCloud, deputy chief of the Rock Island Police Department, pointed out the force had body cameras three years before George Floyd died. The police department numbers 71 officers and the department has 101 body cameras available. All 20 patrol vehicles are outfitted with dashcams.
In addition to its uniformed officers and detectives, the department is equipping its community service section with cameras. Those employees are not sworn police officers.
The cameras have other benefits as well, McCloud said. Reviewing the footage can reveal new information — possible suspects, for example. The footage is also used as evidence in court.
"That stuff can go be played back for a jury in a courtroom," McCloud said. "And they can see just what an officer is seeing on scene."
McCloud said he thinks the public sees the cameras as a positive.
"And I also tend to think that everybody tends to act a little bit better when they know they're on camera," McCloud said.
The department has used body camera footage to address complaints, McCloud said.
"They'll say one thing, and you pull it up, and you're like, well, that's, that's not accurate," McCloud said. "And sometimes you have to turn it around and show them and say, 'Look, here's what happened. What you're saying happened didn't happen.'"
The Moline Police Department has 79 officers, and all are equipped with body cameras. There are dashcams for each of the 30 vehicles in its fleet.
Moline Police Chief Darren Gault called his department "a leader in the area" in the use of body cameras.
" Moline was one of the first cities in the greater region to obtain body cameras. We have had this program for nearly five years, long before the legislation pushed to make it mandatory," Gault said in a news release.
"Body cameras are a valuable tool to aid in modern law enforcement. In 2023, Moline will receive their third-generation upgrade to the body cameras, and we continue to adopt the latest technology in this space," he added.
©2023 Quad City Times, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
