Plan to Put Video Cameras in LAPD Cars Gets Boost : Law enforcement: A pilot project is supported by the police chief and by the leader of the Police Commission.

A pilot project to put video cameras in Los Angeles Police Department vehicles won the endorsement of two key law enforcement officials Tuesday, with the president of the Police Commission and Police Chief Willie L. Williams each saying he supports moving ahead with a test program.

“When the world looks at videotape and looks at law enforcement, the world thinks about Los Angeles,” Commission President Gary Greenebaum said. “I think we need to move ahead on this.”

Williams agreed, noting that the idea was one of more than 100 recommendations produced by the Christopher Commission in its far-reaching analysis of the LAPD. In fact, the use of video cameras is one of the few high-profile issues that unites LAPD critics with the department’s management and its rank and file.

“My sense is that this is a win-win proposition,” said Greenebaum, the western regional director of the American Jewish Committee and recently appointed president of the commission.

Leaders of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, have argued for months that the LAPD needs to move more aggressively to allow the use of video cameras by police officers. Videotapes, the union argues, will protect officers against false complaints of misconduct.

Although union leaders have blamed Williams for dawdling on certain reform proposals, the chief strongly supported the video project Tuesday.

“The only way to find out if it works or not is to try,” Williams said. “I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a viable idea.”

The Police Commission did not act on the pilot project Tuesday, but several members of the panel expressed support for it. The City Council would have to give its approval because the project involves a small budget allocation--the proposal outlined Tuesday would cost $68,000.

“This is not an inordinate amount of money,” Williams said, adding that the department management and city lawyers meet regularly to discuss settling lawsuits against the LAPD that are “five and 10 and 20 times that amount.”

If approved, the program would put cameras in seven LAPD cars and would equip some police stations with video players so the tapes could be reviewed by commanding officers.

Williams said the pilot program would allow the department to test the use of cameras as it explores questions related to using the equipment. Among the areas that department officials still are in doubt about include whether officers should be allowed to turn the cameras on and off, and whether the equipment should remain on at all times.

In addition, city lawyers are investigating how long the tapes would have to be stored for use as possible evidence. Most city documents are saved for 10 years--a period so long that it could create cumbersome problems for warehousing videotapes. But there are exceptions to that practice, and the commission’s staff lawyer said Tuesday that he believes that the City Council could vote to allow the LAPD to store videotapes for just two years.