Duval County

Jacksonville officers now required to wear body cameras

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Police body-worn cameras are now part of the uniform for Jacksonville sheriff’s officers.

Officer body cameras can help tell both sides of the story. The technology is also meant to gather evidence, and increase accountability and transparency.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been under scrutiny for how long it takes to release videos of officer-involved shootings.

During the Action News Jax “Time For Change” special in June, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams and State Attorney Melissa Nelson promised guidelines are being developed to speed up the release process.

WATCH: Action News Jax “Time For Change” Special

“We’ve got to work through the legal challenges and the legal parameters to do that,” Williams said. “We’re this close to having a pipeline of video all the time.”

Nelson said they want the public to have confidence. “We think that a time certain in every single case will give the public confidence that we’re not sitting on footage for nefarious reasons,” Nelson said.

Since the special aired, body camera video of two separate officer-involved shootings were made public, including December’s deadly confrontation with driver Jamee Johnson.

In June, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office publicly released its first body camera video of an officer-involved shooting. It took nearly a year to release the footage.

Last week, the public saw the deadly confrontation with Johnson from seven months ago.

RELATED: Jamee Johnson case: Body camera video, report released in deadly Jacksonville officer-involved shooting

Since 2017, there have been 32 JSO police-involved shootings in which the suspect was shot. In 25 of those cases, the suspect died.

Christina Kittle, with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, works with families of people killed by police. She said the body camera program is missing the mark. “The cameras don’t have the full impact that they are supposed to,” Kittle said.

She calls JSO’s recent release of videos encouraging. “It’s good when it does get released only because we don’t have transparency right now in the United States,” Kittle said. “Who knows when they would’ve released it? Right? Prior to people taking the streets, prior to people pressuring the powers that release that stuff.”

In an Action News Jax exclusive, Williams revealed they’re close to finalizing a timeline to speed up the release of police body camera video.

RELATED: Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams reacts to police body camera video of Jamee Johnson shooting

RELATED: Body Cameras: Who has them, who doesn’t, and what’s standing in the way

“We’ve landed on something we think is going to work for the state, and so we’ll nail that down and have that out I would assume within the next couple weeks at least,” Williams said.

Instead of releasing video only at the end of an investigation, it could happen when the case is handed over to the state attorney.

A spokesperson for Nelson said her office will make an announcement when the policy is finalized.