San Francisco Police Commission Considers Body-Worn Camera Policy

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- We live in the tech capital of the world. There are cameras practically everywhere, but still not on police officers in San Francisco.

But the San Francisco Police Commission met Wednesday to discuss body-worn cameras and a final vote is expected.

Police body cameras can capture some incredible drama. But here in the center of the land of technology the drama has been whether police should have such technology on their bodies and whether officers should be allowed to review the footage before making a statement.

San Francisco police union president Marty Halloran didn't like the idea originally. He wanted cops to be able to look at the video before making statements and his union appears to have reached an agreement with the city on the issue.

A body camera is a video eyewitness. It doesn't have a faulty memory. The argument is if an officer sees what the camera saw, he or she could change their story to fit the facts.

"I think the Police Commission should approve this agreement," Halloran said.

But others think that would defeat the point of such cameras.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said, "All of the eyewitness experts say that when a witness, including an officer, is allowed to look at a video before making a statement, it affects what they say."

"When an officer is involved in a shooting, his or her status shifts from a witness to someone who potentially has a motive to say something different than what happened. So you want to capture what their independent recollection is," Adachi said.

But the cops union has always said, why not just let the cops see what happened on video? That's what most departments do.

"We're just following models from other jurisdictions that allow the officers to view all footage before they give an initial statement," Halloran said.

But this week the union compromised. They said cops will give a brief statement before looking at the video. Then get a chance to see the footage before a full interview. That's what was on the table Wednesday night and it appears the San Francisco Police Commission will go along and if they do vote for cameras, those cameras could be mounted on officers by the end of July 2016.