Emergency responders work at the scene of a shooting in Farmington, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)
FARMINGTON, Utah — All police-worn body cameras in Farmington at the scene of an officer-involved shooting Wednesday were turned off just five minutes from the time shots were fired.
Audio from police scanners lays out the whole scene.
Shots were fired at 3:26 p.m. Chest compressions begin two minutes later at 3:29 p.m.
And three minutes later, at 3:32 p.m., the call goes over: “In the scene, you can go ahead and kill your body cams.”
Davis County does have a policy about turning off body cams after an officer-involved shooting.
The Davis County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Protocol uses very specific language involving the people who can actually make the call to turn off body cameras.
“Once the protocol has been invoked, the Davis County Investigative Bureau Chief, Operations Section Chief, or Lead Investigator, when on the scene, may direct that all running dash and body cameras shut off. This is done to prevent hours of video with no evidentiary value that will later have to be fully reviewed by Protocol Investigators.”
To clarify, the Davis County Investigative Bureau Chief and the Operations Section Chief are both assigned by the County Attorney’s Office, once the case has been sent to them.
The Lead Investigator, in this case, is Bountiful City Police. The department has been assigned as the independent investigator.
Farmington City also has its own policy for when body cameras can be turned off by officers. That policy follows what state lawmakers have spelled out in Utah’s state code.