Montgomery County’s police union is suing to block the installation of video cameras in patrol cars as directed by an arbitrator who, after almost nine years of bickering between union and county officials, sided with the county on camera use.

Despite a 1999 agreement to install cameras in cruisers following the shooting death of an unarmed black civilian, county cop cars still aren’t equipped — and some Montgomery officials blame police union obstructionism.

Junious W. Roberts Jr. was fatally shot by a Montgomery officer in a McDonald’s parking lot, and his family wanted cameras in cruisers as part of a settlement brokered by its attorneys, Walter Blair and the late Johnnie Cochran. Blair says he now wishes he’d never agreed to the deal.

“If the county can’t control their police union enough to put cameras in cruisers, we want our money back,” Blair told The Examiner.

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Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for County Executive Ike Leggett, says getting the cameras in police cars was part of the most recent contract agreement with the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 35.

An arbitrator ended nearly a decade of haggling in May, siding with the county’s belief that the cameras should provide both video and audio recording when emergency lights are activated.

The FOP says the decision violates the Maryland Wiretap Act, which requires the consent of all parties before conversations can be recorded. FOP officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday, but have previously told The Examiner they believed they were close to a deal with the county.

“The county’s proposal invades the privacy rights of officers and other occupants in the police car, and would allow the County to violate the Maryland Wiretap Statute,” the union’s Circuit Court lawsuit says.

Lacefield said the county believes “the right to privacy doesn’t extend to public employees doing public-appointed things in their public vehicle” and that other counties use video cameras in a similar fashion. He added he believes the county can proceed with buying the cameras despite the lawsuit.

Council Vice President Phil Andrews, who has previously criticized the union for obstructionism, said the lawsuit was disheartening.

“It is very frustrating that 8.5 years after county agreed to the settlement, we’re still seeing the FOP fight this move,” Andrews said.

kmiller@dcexaminer.com