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Body cams

B

bill1952

SAWHORSE
Joined
Aug 12, 2021
Messages
2,648
Location
Clayton NY
Perhaps this has been discussed and I missed it, but a city near me is considering requiring building inspectors to wear body cams, recording the work as well as interactions with the public.

Common? Opinions?
 
Be aware that you might be recorded at any time and location. I used to place an audio recorder in my shirt pocket for some of the more contrarian individuals.

I once had a news station crew meet me on a framing and meps inspection where I had written over fifty corrections on a 1200 square foot detached dwelling. The contractor was Black and he claimed that I did it to him because I am a racist. He complained to the Board Of Supervisors so a separate engineer for each discipline was sent with me. Multiples even.
As soon as I saw the camera I explained that I am in the Federal Witness Protection Program and they can't film me. That surprised everyone, especially all of the engineers. All of my corrections stood and they added one more. I felt bad that I missed that correction...it turned out that the gas pipe from the street to the ADU was undersized.

Oh I forgot to mention that all of the HQ engineers were also Black. They were not happy that the contractor accused me of being racist. I was the only white guy that worked in the district office where I was stationed. Well there was Eric the Red. He was as Irish as Irish can be so he didn't count as white. Nope, I was the only one. Black people from around the world ... Azi from Nigeria, Jonas from Ethiopia, Darrel from Compton. Darrel was probably the most learned man that I have ever met. The accents took some getting used to. Potlucks were different than what I was familiar with and Azi had a thing for garlic that would stink up the building. He had two of the prettiest little girls and brought them to work on father and daughter days.

Well not everyone was Black. There was people from Nicaragua, Korea, China and Bangladesh. After Mr. Li brought "Stinky Dumplings" to a luncheon, my contribution was air freshener.

It's probably not a good thing that the Board Of Supervisors knew my name and when Cardinal Mahoney wrote a letter it didn't help.
 
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It would be nice in my opinion. Would cut down on a lot of foolishness where the contractors say things that are not totally reliable. Or at least illustrate who the problem is to the public or the city manager's office people who receive complaints.

No one around here does it that I am aware of. The problem is the data storage - and all the new inspectors jurisdictions would have to hire when they find out how their existing inspectors act in the field.

I would much rather be in trouble for something I actually did than something someone made up.
 
Put your phone in your shirt pocket with the camera facing out and start recording before you get out of the truck. State the address and permit number and the type of inspection you are there for. Don't forget to include the date and time in the recording. Down load when you get back to the office.
 
The only "issue" is IF you have to now retain the video as a public record...It may cost you about $1mil a year to keep it at some point....PD in my Town pays North of that....
 
BN4537 said:
I would much rather be in trouble for something I actually did than something someone made up.
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I got way over the line a few times. I admitted to everything that I ever said or did. When I denied something that I was accused of, management always had in the back of their mind that I had admitted to much worse than the current accusation...so I was believed. That is how the truth can set you free.
 
mtlogcabin said:
Put your phone in your shirt pocket with the camera facing out and start recording before you get out of the truck. State the address and permit number and the type of inspection you are there for. Don't forget to include the date and time in the recording. Down load when you get back to the office.
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my phone battery would not last. Especially for the 8 hour inspection I did the other day
 
I have been using some sort of video recorder for over 20 years, not for the problems with people, but to be able to review things in more detail once I leave the site.

granted my end is normally measuring and you all are inspecting, but not having to drive back for a measurement is extremely helpful.

My go to unit for about 5 years now, https://www.aimcam.com/

Before that I used other units and some gopros...

Love these because they serve both as eye protection and are always pointing where I am looking.

Never visit a site without them and turned on....
 
steveray said:
The only "issue" is IF you have to now retain the video as a public record...It may cost you about $1mil a year to keep it at some point....PD in my Town pays North of that....
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That's one of the concerns, but that may be addressed by policy. The department I work for bought body cams earlier this year, after a number of incidents between our inspectors and some "unpleasant" owners and contractors. Regrettably, the body cams are still in their boxes on a shelf, because we haven't had time to generate a policy and have it approved by the town counsel.
 
We have body cams. It's saved my keister at least a few times.

The most notable of which involved a woman in her home. She was informed the camera was running "for your protection and mine." The woman was, how shall we say, a real piece of work. The inspection ended with me explaining that due to her conduct, and language used toward me, that the inspection was being terminated.

I got back to the office and realized that given what kind of person she was, had it not been for the bodycam, there would have been a non-zero chance of her calling the police to fabricate a sexual assault claim.
 
Yankee Chronicler said:
That's one of the concerns, but that may be addressed by policy. The department I work for bought body cams earlier this year, after a number of incidents between our inspectors and some "unpleasant" owners and contractors. Regrettably, the body cams are still in their boxes on a shelf, because we haven't had time to generate a policy and have it approved by the town counsel.
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Not to mention that you are almost out of employees.....
 
I have used recorders. Captured a lot of stuff that didn't necessarily save me, because I never felt much need to justify my actions. If I was at that point I would find another job, or a different career. I only used them when I already knew there would be trouble. I did capture a county commissioner threaten me with violence. The reinspection included me, the CBO, another inspector, and a deputy. It didn't end well. Another VIP in an AHJ trying to bribe me. Those were just for fun. In cases as soon as something started to go too far south I just terminated the inspection, documented it and informed superiors. That should really be enough.

Not against them, just have a hard time believing they are necessary, but in our world today I guess I am too naïve.
 
steveray said:
Not to mention that you are almost out of employees.....
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Yes, and just yesterday HR informed the boss that there have been "no qualified applicants." Not surprising, considering the overall shortage and the fact that it's well-known across the state that in our town the administration doesn't support the Building Department. In the past two days we have received three "Please look into this right away" e-mails from Town Hall regarding applications. Completely aside from the blatant political interference, we still have three licensed BOs and three clerical staff in the office. When one of these blanket e-mails comes down, it's not unusual for us to find that at least three of us have started looking into it at the same time. When the problem is a backlog caused by lack of personnel, creating a situation in which multiple people are putting aside what they should be working on to respond to another of der fuhrer's political requests is obviously counter-productive.
 
IMO there is a difference between doing it for your documentation to look back on, and being required to do it for the encounters with others.

If you need to and are required to because of the interaction with others, I would look for another area to work in.

Like I said in my other post, I been video recording sites for years and it has saved me many a trip back, but that is different than the flip side of being required for documenting your inspection.

Once my project is done, I record over the video and move on to the next.
 
I had used one on occasion when I was still doing inspections. I found you generally knew when you should put one on and when you shouldn't.

If you ask yourself if you need one, you do.
 
tmurray said:
I had used one on occasion when I was still doing inspections. I found you generally knew when you should put one on and when you shouldn't.

If you ask yourself if you need one, you do.
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The problem with that approach is that it can be attacked as arbitrary and capricious, and/or discriminatory. "The inspector didn't wear a body cam when he inspected their new deck, why did he wear one when he inspected mine?"

We're pretty much certain that if the department is going to use them at all, use will need to be based on an established policy. Either turn it on when you arrive at your first inspection and leave it on until you leave your last inspection, or turn it on when you arrive at each inspection and turn it off after you're back in the car and ready to leave each inspection.

What we're less certain about is whether or not to use them at all.
 
Yankee Chronicler said:
The problem with that approach is that it can be attacked as arbitrary and capricious, and/or discriminatory. "The inspector didn't wear a body cam when he inspected their new deck, why did he wear one when he inspected mine?"

We're pretty much certain that if the department is going to use them at all, use will need to be based on an established policy. Either turn it on when you arrive at your first inspection and leave it on until you leave your last inspection, or turn it on when you arrive at each inspection and turn it off after you're back in the car and ready to leave each inspection.

What we're less certain about is whether or not to use them at all.
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Body cameras are only used for the interests of the organization. If other parties want to record the interaction for their own interests, they are welcome to. We did have people complain when we wore them. We scheduled a meeting with the complainant and the senior manager or member of council they complained to.

We asked what damage it does to wear a body camera. Largely the answer was it made them feel bad.

We explained in detail what actions in the past lead to the reason why we felt the need to wear a body camera when we were interacting with them. Typically, they left embarrassed.

If we changed what we did based on complaints, a lot of us would be out of work.
 
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