Kathleen Miller, The Examiner
2008-03-15 08:00:00.0
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Montgomery County -

Montgomery County police cruisers don't have video cameras more than eight years after an agreement to install the devices as part of a settlement following the shooting of a civilian, and county officials say police union obstruction is to blame.

In 1999, county leaders did not acknowledge liability but agreed to pay the family of Junious W. Roberts, Jr. $2 million after he was accidentally shot in a Wheaton McDonald's parking lot. The county agreed to set aside an additional $1 million to fund the installation of video cameras in patrol cars to monitor police-citizen interactions, increased recruitment of minority officers and sensitivity-training programs for police.

Police and county officials say cameras were purchased, but never installed because union leaders resisted the idea, saying the county would have to renegotiate union contracts because the devices constituted a change in working conditions.

Council Vice President Phil Andrews, chairman of the council's public safety committee, said the camera issue is one of many that show the police union's ability to block change.

"They have resisted a lot of important reforms...," Andrews said. "Accountability can't be a bargainable issue. The police chief needs to be able to implement reforms. They have the power to obstruct."

Patrick Lacefield, spokesman for County Executive Ike Leggett, said the county ultimately sold the cameras because as negotiations dragged on, the technology became outdated. Union officials, however, said the county returned the cameras to the manufacturer to recoup the money for other projects.

Both Lacefield and Jane Milne, secretary for the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 35, said union leaders and the county executive's office are close to perfecting an agreement to install the cameras in cars.

At the time of the settlement, attorney Johnnie Cochran, who represented the family, praised the county's quick response and accommodating attitude. Now his co-counsel in the case, local lawyer Walter Blair is not so impressed.

Blair said he was "shocked and outraged" to learn this week the cameras had never been installed. Blair said he plans to take legal action against the county to recover the $1 million, plus interest, for the family.

"Mrs. Roberts can take that money and her family can get a few cameras and walk around with them, maybe establish a community watch since the county won't do it," Blair said.

kmiller@dcexaminer.com