Last month, Evans police Chief Rick Brandt participated in a panel discussion about body-worn cameras and publicly revealed an incident some chiefs might prefer to sweep under the rug.
In July, following the arrest of a man suspected of being involved in a fight at a house party, Brandt fired one of his officers after camera footage confirmed he had used excessive force while placing the man into custody.
“The vast majority of the time — something like 90 percent, according to studies I’ve seen recently — officers are being exonerated of wrongdoing by body camera footage,” Brandt said. “Sometimes officers make a bad decision or let their emotions dictate their behavior. In this case we had some evidence that allowed us to make the difficult decision to let that officer go.” Continue…
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