By GAGE WILSON
for Glasgow News 1
The Cave City City Council convened Monday, Sept. 15, for a special meeting to introduce a body camera policy for the police department.
The policy review and vote had originally been set for the council’s regular September meeting, but was delayed after a dispute between Police Chief Paul Reynolds and Councilwoman Leticia Cline forced that meeting to adjourn early.
Cline was absent Monday due to being in a vehicle crash in Nashville last week. She is hospitalized at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, according to information she published on a social media site.
With the body cam policy the sole agenda item, City Attorney Bobby Richardson explained the council’s role in the process. He said the policy would automatically take effect unless the council voted to against it. “That’s not to say you couldn’t convince the mayor to introduce amended ones,” Richardson added, “but unless you disapprove them, they go into effect.” A majority vote would be required to reject it.
Mayor Dwayne Hatcher noted that the proposed policy was based on guidelines from the Kentucky League of Cities with some adjustments. That wording drew attention from newly appointed Councilman Andrew Bagshaw, who raised “the elephant in the room”: the use of the word “should” instead of “shall” when describing when cameras must be used. He cited Glasgow’s policy, which also uses “should.”
Richardson clarified the legal implications, saying “shall” would require officers to have their cameras running at all times, while “should” allows for exceptions. “You should do it at all times unless there is some pervasive reason you shouldn’t,” he said. “‘Should’ is more of a direction than ‘may,’ but it’s not quite as strong as ‘shall.’”
Reynolds weighed in, pointing to a battery issue with the cameras. “For whatever reason they are eating the battery,” he said, warning that a strict “shall” requirement could leave officers vulnerable to disciplinary or legal consequences for technical or human errors.
Bagshaw then asked about training, and Reynolds said Motorola would provide formal instruction next month. He added that all of his officers have prior experience with body cameras, making him the only one still new to the equipment.
The department is also outfitted with both wall chargers and vehicle chargers, though Reynolds noted a shipment of gear worth about $23,000 had recently been lost in transit.
Officer Billy Courtway explained that the cameras are designed to activate automatically when an officer switches a patrol car into “position two,” or activates emergency lights, reducing the risk of user error. “The first inherent trait we have as humans is that we are fallible,” he said. “The ‘shall’ does not care about a mistake, and when it comes to the law, words matter.”
Councilman Ronald Coffey asked Reynolds if he believed the policy was a “good policy.” Reynolds responded, “Yes, we wanted cameras just as much as you all do.”
With no motion made to disapprove, the policy was adopted.
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