IMPD's body camera program ending

The body-camera pilot program that Indianapolis law enforcement officials have been testing for the past seven months will soon come to an end, and department leaders said Thursday that although they see value in continuing the program they are uncertain whether they can afford to.

IMPD Chief Rick Hite and Public Safety Director Troy Riggs "want the cameras," said Sgt. Kendale Adams, a spokesman for the department. "No question there."

But to equip every officer in the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department with a similar device would cost an estimated $2 million, funding for which Adams said the Department of Public Safety and IMPD would ask for in 2016.

Hite expressed support for the cameras during a press conference Thursday in which body-camera video from an April 12 fatal officer-involved shooting was presented to the media. Videos captured on the cameras, Hite said, have been useful for officers not just in the field but during training exercises.

The April 12 video, which Hite described as "raw and untouched," shows the fatal shots fired by an IMPD officer that killed 35-year-old Mack Long. Long fled from police after a traffic stop, ignored orders to get on the ground and wrestled with one officer for his gun, police said at the time.

The video was cleared to be shown publicly by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. In June a grand jury determined the officers would not face any charges in the shooting.

Once the body-camera pilot program ends July 13, all of the devices will have to be returned to the loaning vendor, at which point officials will continue to review video that has been captured, collect feedback from officers using the devices in the field and determine which vendor (the department used three different vendors during the program) they would begin purchasing units from for officers on patrol.

It's still unclear how much funding and how many units DPS and IMPD would be requesting for 2016, but even before the program began officials said it would be a long time before every police officer would be equipped with a camera.

"I am certainly a big proponent" of cameras, Riggs told The Indianapolis Star in December at the outset of the program. "I have been a big proponent for years for cameras in cars and now body cameras."

The April 12 video, running nearly 13 minutes, captures the minutes leading up to the fatal shooting of Long, the shooting itself and the aftermath.

Here is how events unfolded, according to police:

About 3:15 p.m. IMPD Officer Kyle Flynn pulled over a vehicle Long was riding in near the corner of 31st Street and Sherman Drive.

When Flynn asked the driver for her license and registration, Long took off on foot.

Flynn gave chase and reported seeing a 9mm handgun on Long's hip as he ran.

When Flynn caught up with Long he ordered him to the ground, but police said Long didn't comply. Flynn then drew his weapon and ordered Long to the ground again.

Police said Long responded by turning "his gunside away" from view, prompting Flynn to fire. Long was hit but continued to run.

Meanwhile, a second officer was on his way. Officer Jered Hidlebaugh was wearing the body camera. In the video you can hear radio dispatchers reporting that shots have been fired as Hidlebaugh approaches in his patrol car.

Once Flynn caught up to Long again, the two began wrestling over his department issued handgun, police said. During the exchange, Flynn's gun went off.

Moments later, Hidlebaugh arrived and witnessed the struggle, which can be seen in the video. He ordered Long to the ground and then fired twice. Long fell to the ground and was later pronounced dead by medics at the scene.

A total of four shots were fired, two from each officer's gun, police said. Investigators recovered drugs, a 9mm handgun and ammunition in Long's possession. Long's gun was never fired.

Long's family and The Indianapolis Star asked for the body-camera video to be released publicly, but it wasn't until the department completed its internal and criminal investigation that the video could be cleared for viewing, Hite said.

A recent surge of interest in body cameras marks a significant change from a year ago, when 75 percent of law enforcement agencies were not using the technology, according to a report released in September by the Police Executive Research Forum, a law-enforcement think tank. The survey included 254 agencies.

Equipping all of IMPD's roughly 1,500 officers with body cameras is a costly proposal. In addition to the cameras, valued at $800 to $1,200 per unit, officials also would need to consider the cost of additional storage for the videos as well as maintenance for the cameras, said Brian Reeder, who was a member of a city efficiency team that researched the cameras.

According to a survey of the 20 largest U.S. police forces conducted in April by Reuters, 16 departments have equipped some officers with cameras or plan to do so and not one had yet been able to provide kits to all its patrol officers.

"Many police departments are still recovering from budget cuts and don't expect to reach pre-recession funding levels again until 2018," Hassan Aden, director of research and programs at the International Association of Chiefs of Police, told Reuters.

Jill Disis, Justin Mack and Alana Mitchelson contributed to this story. Call Star reporter Michael Anthony Adams at (317) 444-6123. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelAdams317.