In light of the recent Department of Justice criticisms of the Seattle Police Department for excessive use of force the SPD Office of Professional Accountability has issued a report on report on the use of in-car video systems.

The dash cam video of the aftermath of a jogger being struck by a truck near the lower West Seattle Bridge shows that the camera (and audio) can both implicate as well as exonerate officers.

The report states:

While the issues noted in this report are considered, a Directive should be issued to:
o Remind officers that the current SPD policy requires that every effort be made to record traffic stops, pursuits, vehicle searches and citizen contacts;

o Emphasize the need to document recordings (or the reasons for the lack of video/audio) in a citation, notice of infraction, or Traffic Contact Report, and in the General Offense Report if a custodial arrest is made;

o Require that every officer assigned to Operations, regardless of rank and including all acting as Field Training Officers, be DICVS trained ;

o Remind supervisors of their responsibility to ensure officers are trained and using DICVS. A follow up audit should be conducted during 1st Quarter 2012 and periodically thereafter, to assess whether SPD officers are consistently using DICVS as required by policy.

You can read the full report here:
http://www.seattle.gov/police/OPA/Docs/InCar_Video_12_23_2011.pdf