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Nearly a quarter of LAPD officers failed to promptly activate body cameras in force incidents, review finds

An LAPD officer is seen next to body cameras in an undated photo. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Nearly a fourth of Los Angeles police officers involved in incidents where serious force was used failed to activate their body cameras in a timely manner, according to a recent review of such cases by the department’s inspector general.

Inspector General Mark Smith’s office reviewed the actions of 262 officers who it considered to be substantially involved in 53 use of force cases that came before the civilian Police Commission between June 2020 and July 2021 — including 33 police shootings.

It found that 218 of those officers were equipped with body cameras and required to activate them, and that seven failed to do so entirely while another 41 did so in a delayed manner without justification.

Together, those 48 failures accounted for 22% of the officers whose actions were reviewed.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.