3 Reasons Why Muting Your Body Worn Camera's Audio Is A Bad Idea

3 Reasons Why Muting Your Body Worn Camera's Audio Is A Bad Idea

This post is offered as a discussion topic only and does not represent legal advice. Officers must refer to the laws in their own State as well as their agency's policies, which can be more restrictive on officers than the law requires.

During calls for service, it can be tempting for an officer to mute their body worn camera’s audio, or even shut it off entirely, when they’re not dealing directly with a member of the public. This usually happens during times like someone having a side conversation with their partners or if there’s a long delay during the incident. But, here are three reasons why you may want to reconsider this practice:

Body worn camera’s have become an integral tool in dispelling false claims made against officers in lawsuits and citizen’s complaints. During hearings for qualified immunity or summary judgement, the courts are allowed to use evidence in the record, like body camera footage, to demonstrate that what the person is saying the officer did is not true. Just take a look at this quote from 2022 in the 9th Circuit Case Hughes v. Rodriguez, “For purposes of ruling on a motion for summary judgment, a district court may properly view the facts in the light depicted by body cam footage and its accompanying audio, to the extent the footage and audio blatantly contradict testimonial evidence.”

The same is true for citizen’s complaints. Agencies can use the footage and its audio to exonerate officers against false accusations. But, if officers are constantly starting and stopping their audio, that creates windows where a person can make false claims and officers have no ability to prove otherwise.

The next reason is that 9th Circuit Case law has made clear that tactical planning is a key consideration in determining the reasonableness of an officer’s use of force. In California, a case from 2013 called Hays v. San Diego determined that courts can look at the tactical conduct of officers leading up to the use of deadly force to determine negligence. And California Penal Code 835(a) now says that, “Totality of the circumstances means all facts known to the peace officer at the time, including the conduct of the officer and the subject leading up to the use of deadly force.” The thing is, officers have no way of knowing if an incident may turn into a use of deadly force. Therefore, in any incident, if they’re muting their camera’s audio while speaking with their partners, it may be inadvertently getting rid of evidence that demonstrates the officer tactically planned how they were going to approach the call.

And finally, artificial intelligence is now something all law enforcement agencies need to contend with. Just take a look at this audio of Jerome Powell, which was modified to change what he said, including changing how his mouth moved. Now, imagine an officer was on a call for service with someone who was filming them at a distance speaking with their partners, and they modified their own footage to show the officer saying something they did not say. But, because the audio in the officer’s own footage was muted, they cannot disprove what they “clearly” show happened.

Law enforcement is still a fun and rewarding career. But since its inception, officers have had to adapt to the times they were working in. Now is not any different. We’re working in the age of the internet, social media, a camera being in everyone’s pocket, artificial intelligence and Freedom of Information Act requests. Our practices need to adjust. Anytime an officer is on-scene of any official law enforcement action, and oftentimes even when responding to the scene, their camera and audio should be running uninterrupted. While on scene, it's professional time. That means no joking around with partners or saying things that could lead to embarrassment or discipline if caught on body camera. Debriefs at the conclusion of an incident should happen at a separate location where participants are not filming officers and so everyone can feel confident in speaking freely.

This blog topic serves as a summary of our video lesson on this crucial topic. If you're interested in accessing the full video lesson and additional resources, click the link to register for your free 30-day trial.