Report: Suffolk police officers failed to activate body-worn cameras 83 times during 12-month period

Suffolk police officers failed to activate body cameras during 83 incidents reviewed by the county’s Human Rights Commission during a 12-month period, limiting the body's ability to assess misconduct allegations and eroding community trust in the department, a report released by the agency showed.

The HRC’s Administration of Justice Subcommittee, which has monitored the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau investigations since 2023, concurred with IAB dispositions in 87.4% of the 268 cases it reviewed between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025.

HRC officials could not agree when IAB concluded that complaints were unsubstantiated based on missing body camera video and/or audio, according to the 35-page Civilian Police Oversight Annual Report released July 14.

"One of the things we say in the report is that not using your body camera is obstructing justice, because we have a responsibility to make sure people’s rights are being protected and not being able to make sure that is happening, that means justice can’t be done," said HRC member Carolyn G. Peabody, the chairwoman of the Administration of Justice Subcommittee.

Internal Affairs officials have agreed to categorize the failure to activate body-worn cameras as its own allegation of misconduct, and HRC said it will continue to push for stricter enforcement, as well as monitor how officers who fail to activate body cameras are disciplined, the report said.

"The vast majority of officers are doing it right, and yet, when they don’t, then it is very hard to know what happened," said Rabbi Lina Zerbarini, HRC commissioner emeritus and vice chairwoman of the AOJ subcommittee.

A push to require detectives to wear body cams

The report also said it will urge Suffolk police to change its policy to require detectives to wear body cameras. That would require collective bargaining with the Suffolk Detectives Association. Representatives of the union did not return a request for comment.

HRC chairwoman Lynda Perdomo-Ayala said police have to establish clear disciplinary guidelines for officers who fail to activate body cameras. Discipline for officers is subject to collective bargaining, and officers who fail to activate body cameras usually receive warnings but no further punishment.

In the report and in a recent interview, HRC officials said the relationship with Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina and other department leaders, including IAB officials, has been collaborative and professional, and the department’s brass continues to be receptive to the agency’s critiques. The department recently agreed to establish a Professional Development Unit that will incorporate HRC’s findings in department policies and training emphasizing the importance of professional conduct.

But disagreements continue and problems persist. IAB investigators, for example, have failed to quickly provide evidence in some cases to the Human Rights Commission, the report said. The department has also failed to provide HRC with officers’ complaint history, the report said.

"We have no way of knowing if an officer has multiple complaints against them when we review a complaint," the report said. "Repeated complaints about an officer's misconduct are a serious warning sign, indicating the need to take special measures."

Striking a balance

A spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine directed requests for comment to the police department.

"The Suffolk County Police Department values its partnership with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Administration of Justice (AOJ) Subcommittee," the department said in a statement. "Our collaborative working relationship continues to build transparency and public trust in the integrity and fairness of the Department’s Internal Affairs investigations."

The statement agreed that body cameras are an important tool to determine if complaints filed with Internal Affairs are valid, and that the department continues to monitor compliance. 

"However, the cameras present challenges — specifically striking the right balance between personal privacy of victims, witnesses and juveniles, officer safety, and the evidentiary value of the recorded footage in both criminal and internal investigations," the statement said.

"Our plainclothes detectives are not outfitted with body-cameras during routine investigative duties, which is consistent with most police agencies. However, all precincts are equipped with interview rooms with recording capabilities," the statement added. 

Lou Civello, president of the Suffolk Police Benevolent Association, said "thousands upon thousands of police interactions were recorded, giving the public unprecedented transparency in how we police." He said it may be appropriate for officers to restrict the use of body cameras in certain situations, such as investigating sex crimes.

"We must balance transparency with factors such as victim’s rights, personal privacy and officer safety," Civello said in a statement to Newsday.

Expanded mandate

The HRC, created in 1963 to investigate complaints of bias and enforce antidiscrimination laws, had collected police misconduct complaints and passed them along to the IAB before then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo ordered New York communities to draft reform plans in the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 murder while in the custody of Minneapolis police.

The reform plan drafted by a 37-member panel appointed by former Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone — which included Perdomo-Ayala — expanded the commission’s role and also called for officers to be equipped with body cameras. Having the HRC review Internal Affairs cases was a compromise between law enforcement officials who resisted monitoring and community advocates who called for a civilian body with strong investigative power and the authority to direct the police commissioner to impose discipline.

Most of the nation’s civilian oversight boards operate on a similar model as Suffolk, according to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, which has provided training and assistance to the HRC. Hempstead civil rights attorney Frederick K. Brewington, who advocated for a civilian review board with investigative and disciplinary authority, said that model does not lead to change.

"Right now, the community has no input whatsoever, and the police are basically acting like the foxes guarding the chicken house," Brewington said.

Officers who don’t activate body cameras, Brewington added, are denying important evidence to prosecutors and defense attorneys as well as the HRC. "Courts depend on that now," he said. "Jurors depend on that now."

Other concerns

The HRC report said many Internal Affairs investigations drag on too long. Department policy calls for internal affairs investigations to be conducted within 60 days, but more than half — 51.5% — exceeded that deadline and more than 20% took more than 181 days to complete, the report concluded.

Another concern is why some complaints are classified as notifications, which means IAB determined it falls outside its jurisdiction. Although IAB provides explanations when asked about specific cases, the report said evidence supporting notification conclusions should be shared with HRC officials.

"This becomes very cumbersome given the high volume of notifications," the report said. IAB officials said they are committed to uploading evidence used to determine a complaint is a notification, it added.

The report said many of the videos reviewed by HRC showed officers keeping their cool even when confronted by rude, provocative and out-of-control people. "These situations most often worked out reasonably, reflecting the critical values of de-escalation and professionalism," the report said. "We have been very impressed by BWC [body-worn camera] footage that documents these interactions."

Other videos, according to the report, showed officers who enter situations "hot and angry," needlessly raising tensions.

"We will be exploring with SCPD and IAB the specification of allegations generated to address those situations where officers escalate and exacerbate the tension, abusively taunt and misuse their authority toward no positive law enforcement end." the report said.