Battle Ground Police Department (BGPD) rolled out body-worn cameras for all patrol personnel on Monday, Oct. 7, with Chief Dennis Flynn highlighting the importance and benefits the cameras have on both the officer and the community.
Flynn explained the importance of having video of incidents between the public and law enforcement, as well as how footage can provide clarity to an officer after the traumatic experience. He said the body-worn cameras will assist with how the department can be as transparent as possible moving forward.
“I have not yet met a police officer nationwide that, when you first talked about deploying body cams, that they’re not apprehensive,” Flynn said. “I think anybody anywhere would feel apprehensive if you said, ‘Here, I want you to wear this camera to document everything that you did all day.’ We also just have to acknowledge times have changed, and there we owe it to the public to be as transparent as we can.”
Flynn said once officers get past the initial uneasiness of the watchful eye on their chest, they see the benefit the camera brings to their job. He added that officers aren’t required to turn them on during a friendly public engagement but will be required during any enforcement action such as a traffic stop and disturbances, among other incidents.
When it comes to a critical incident where use-of-force occurred, not only does the video provide exact detail of what transpired but also gives the officer a visual of the traumatic incident.
“It is exceptionally well documented that when you are involved in a critical incident, your brain works in a manner that impacts [how it thinks things] occurred,” Flynn said. “So having that video footage to be able to show what actually occurred and maybe help the officer because it’s very common for people who have been in a critical incident to think that the incident took place over this very, very long time frame when that’s not the case or that they feel like they fired a certain number of rounds when we find out later it’s different, it’s not that anybody’s being untruthful, it’s just that it has its impact on somebody when you’re involved in these dynamic situations.”
Flynn said he is glad that Battle Ground is fortunate to have a very low number of use-of-force incidents, but he also acknowledged the fact that the department has to prepare and train for when it comes to an incident warranting use of force by an officer.
He added that if an officer were to make a mistake, the department would be as transparent and timely as possible to provide answers to the public.
“We hire from the human race. We’re going to make mistakes. If we make a mistake, it’ll be my intention that you show it, you own it,” Flynn said. “And then you describe what you’re doing to make things better. Will that happen in a deadly use of force? I hope not. But I do know that if you have something that doesn’t look good, withholding it never is going to make it look better. So, you always want to get out in front, share what you have and then let’s talk about what we’re going to do about it.”
Flynn acknowledged the work that the Vancouver Police Department and Clark County Sheriff’s Office have done in sharing their critical incident videos with the public. Battle Ground Communications Manager Alisha Smith said the City of Battle Ground will release incident videos with the preservation of the investigation in mind if an incident of that nature were to occur.
According to the 2024 Battle Ground city budget, general funds and state grant funding for the body-worn police cameras totaled $365,200.
