Illinois State Police have released body-worn camera video of the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey on July 6th by Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson. This tragic and horrific incident has garnered national attention, as it should. I will refrain from commenting on the incident itself. Undoubtedly, every aspect of the event will be disected in the ensuing investigation, criminal, and civil trials. I want to discuss the fact that Deputy Grayson didn't activate his camera until after the shooting. Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this has happened and it isn't the first time I have commented on failure to activate at a critical incident. I was unable to find a copy of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office (SCS0) body-worn camera policy on-line, so I cannot address their specific policy directives regarding activation. However, the State of Illinois has basic guidelines for officer-worn body cameras outlined in 50 ILCS 706/10-20, Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act. In summary, it states that cameras must be activated when an officer is on duty, clearly identified as officer, and responding to a call for service. I assume that the SCSO body-camera policy had similiar wording as a minimum. The problem with the state language, and possibly the SCSO policy, is that it doesn't say specifically when the camera should be activated. There is no designated "bright line" for activation. This is a policy failure. It is a policy failure even if the body camera system has automated triggering to avoid circumstances such as with this shooting. Additionally, it raises the question of how often this previously occured with Deputy Grayson. SCSO deployed body-worn cameras in 2022. The 2022 Illinois Body Worn Camera Report contained a body camera program summary, submitted to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, from each agency in the state with cameras. In this report, SCSO states that "supervisors review two (2) recorded videos monthly for each officer under them. The videos are randomly selected based upon parameters set by the administration". An investigative review of Deputy Grayson's activations over time will determine if he had a pattern of failing to activate his camera. If so, it would demonstrate a failure by the agency to ensure compliance with both agency policy and state law. Finally, with only 72 sworn deputies (according to the 2022 report) it brings into question just how thoroughly SCSO reviewed videos at the agency level to ensure not only policy compliance but also to identify other risks to the agency. Reviewing every video for a large police agency such as LAPD is impossible. Even an agency the size of SCSO would find if difficult to look at every video. However, the smaller the agency the greater the expectation will be that someone at the agency level is sytematically reviewing some reasonable amount of video to mitigate risk. Review at the supervisory level is simply an additional form of first-line performance management. It isn't a replacement for the agency responsibility to review. The actions and failures of both Deputy Grayson and SCSO will certainly come to light. Reactive measures will be taken. Perhaps Sonya Massey might still be alive today, Deputy Grayson might not be arrested for murder, and the SCSO might not be under intense scruitny, if an effective, proactive, agency review process was in place.
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