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August 13, 2005 (News in Texas)
08/12/05 - 10:15 pm
New Policy For Austin Police Cars
Some Austin Police officers are no longer allowed to chase the bad guys. A new change will affect police enforcement across the city.
If it's not caught on tape, Austin Police can't pull you over.
KXAN News 36 has learned starting immediately, officers without cameras in their police cars are no longer allowed to make traffic stops.
Not only will officers without cameras in their car lose their authority to pull over traffic violators like drivers speeding down I-35, but those officers may also lose something else.
"To be safe, what we said was if you don't have a camera in your car, until we can get this done, don't make stops," APD Assistant Chief Rick Coy said.
To make sure that doesn't happen, those officers may no longer have emergency lights on their police car.
There are only certain police cars that don't have cameras. Those units belong to officers assigned to special units like hostage negotiators.
"They don't make traffic stops routinely but in case they were to, we would not have that captured on video," Coy said.
"Fine. If that's the case, let's put cameras in the car. We've called for cameras once. We'll calling for them again," Austin Police Association President Mike Sheffield said.
Sheffield says it makes more sense to add cameras to the police cars, not to take away their emergency lights.
"We have a policy that is so restrictive, we're taking the emergency lights out of these vehicles so we can make certain that someone doesn't make a stop cause we don't have a camera in that unit," Sheffield said.
Coy says this is only an effort to make sure all traffic stops are recorded.
"We don't want to go overboard on this but we want to do what's right," Coy said.
Sheffield says it's sending the wrong message to certain officers.
"I'm not in a car that has a camera so unless I see something that is absolutely an emergency situation, I don't get involved because I don't have a camera in my car. That thinking is de-policing," Sheffield said.
Officers in a car without a camera can initiate a stop only if it is an emergency, but Sheffield says that's open to interpretation and asks if you want officers second guessing themselves about that because they're afraid of violating the new policy.
08/12/05 - 10:15 pm
New Policy For Austin Police Cars
Some Austin Police officers are no longer allowed to chase the bad guys. A new change will affect police enforcement across the city.
If it's not caught on tape, Austin Police can't pull you over.
KXAN News 36 has learned starting immediately, officers without cameras in their police cars are no longer allowed to make traffic stops.
Not only will officers without cameras in their car lose their authority to pull over traffic violators like drivers speeding down I-35, but those officers may also lose something else.
"To be safe, what we said was if you don't have a camera in your car, until we can get this done, don't make stops," APD Assistant Chief Rick Coy said.
To make sure that doesn't happen, those officers may no longer have emergency lights on their police car.
There are only certain police cars that don't have cameras. Those units belong to officers assigned to special units like hostage negotiators.
"They don't make traffic stops routinely but in case they were to, we would not have that captured on video," Coy said.
"Fine. If that's the case, let's put cameras in the car. We've called for cameras once. We'll calling for them again," Austin Police Association President Mike Sheffield said.
Sheffield says it makes more sense to add cameras to the police cars, not to take away their emergency lights.
"We have a policy that is so restrictive, we're taking the emergency lights out of these vehicles so we can make certain that someone doesn't make a stop cause we don't have a camera in that unit," Sheffield said.
Coy says this is only an effort to make sure all traffic stops are recorded.
"We don't want to go overboard on this but we want to do what's right," Coy said.
Sheffield says it's sending the wrong message to certain officers.
"I'm not in a car that has a camera so unless I see something that is absolutely an emergency situation, I don't get involved because I don't have a camera in my car. That thinking is de-policing," Sheffield said.
Officers in a car without a camera can initiate a stop only if it is an emergency, but Sheffield says that's open to interpretation and asks if you want officers second guessing themselves about that because they're afraid of violating the new policy.
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