Body Cam Footage Shows Raw Side of Policing

TAMPA, FL — Quick glimpses of cops in action shown on the nightly news don’t quite capture the ins, outs, ups and downs of life on the daily beat.

That’s according to the Tampa Police Department whose officials hope a new video release will help set the record straight. To give residents a bird’s-eye view of what it’s really like to be a cop, the agency has released a compilation of body cam video footage that demonstrates the rollercoaster of experiences that can occur on any given day. The video starts out with an officer on a traffic stop, dealing with a rather recalcitrant motorist who, at one point, flicks cigarette ashes on the uniformed patrolman and calls 911 despite being told not to.

The video was created to “give people a real look into a day in the life of a police officer,” Andrea Davis, TPD spokeswoman told Patch. “They can kind of walk in an officer’s shoes for three minutes.”

Tampa Police Officers have been using body cameras for nearly a year. The agency is taking part in a University of South Florida study about the devices’ use in law enforcement. Sixty cameras have been issued to officers as part of the study.

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“When you see body camera video on the news, it is typically something perceived as negative, but those are isolated incidents that don’t really capture the majority of officers and what we deal with on a daily basis,” Davis said.

While officers are sometimes called “every name in the book,” there’s more to the job than just bad encounters, she added. “All it takes is that one person to say thank you or helping someone who needs it and you forget all about the negative.”

Demonstrating that, the video switches from footage of criminal encounters to the reasons why “police officers come to work every day.” What follows are body cam shots of harrowing rescues, medical emergencies and law enforcement officers helping residents in a variety of more mundane ways. One shot shows a tire being changed while another involves the capture of a trespassing baby alligator on a resident’s property.

“I don’t think the average citizen has any idea of what officers go through out here,” Davis said. “It isn’t what you see on TV, that’s for sure.”

In 2014, 20 percent of the 1,000 men and women who work for TPD were assaulted in the line of duty, agency statistics reveal. A total of 341 officers were injured in the line of duty.

Screenshot from the Tampa Police Department