SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Sgt. Rod Grassmann, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to ABC10 that all specialty units for the sheriff's office, which include the gang unit, the problem-oriented police team, and homeless outreach team will all have body cameras and those cameras will be fully implemented by February 15, 2021.
Last year, Sheriff Scott Jones told ABC10 the department "desperately wants body cameras."
After those teams become equipped, the department will begin training and implementing body cameras for all of its other 1,500 sworn officers not on special teams. The sheriff's office expects to have them all fully in use and ready to go by June 2021.
The family of 24-year-old Kershawn Geyger, who was killed by police last week in Carmichael, is disputing claims made by the sheriff’s office that he attacked police. They say if the police had cameras, there would be more clarity.
"So it’s OK to just kill my son? I wouldn’t care what he did. He didn’t shoot you, he didn’t show you no gun. If his hands is up, how could he shoot you? It don’t make no sense," Yaphette Geiger, Kershawn's mother said.
It’s been one week since Geyger was shot and killed by two Sacramento County Sheriff’s officers.
In a rather unorthodox first of its kind, a digital reenactment of what happened that night was released. In the reenactment, the sheriff’s office said Geyger instigated the attack that led to his killing and severe injuries to a detective.
But there were no body or dash cameras.
"The suspect shot the detective, immediately exited the vehicle with his gun in hand while the detective returned fire," Grassmann said.
Geyger’s father says they deserve more clarity.
“They’re not going to let no armed suspect open up a car door, get out and get off around, they’re going to put him down right there as he sits and that’s exactly what they did," Ro Geiger, Kershawn's father said.
It should be noted that while Kershawn spells his last name "Geyger," the rest of his family spells it "Geiger."
Grassmann said Geyger fired the first shot through his driver’s side window, hitting the detective underneath his bulletproof vest above his belt.
"There is a spent round from that gun on the ground there that we have retrieved, there is no question that Mr. Geyger took that shot," Grassmann said. "Through the window, I would call it, that would be an ambush.”
While every patrol car does have dash cameras, they say, undercover cars like those used the night of the shooting, don’t have them.
The department was approved to purchase body cameras last September but the sheriff’s department says progress is lagging due to having to train 1,500 sworn officers amid a pandemic.
"There's a process, you don't just contract with a vendor right, you have to put that out to bid, there's a lot that goes on with choosing a vendor and implementing the new technology and that just takes time," he said.
Back in September 2020 when the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors originally approved funding for these cameras, Sheriff Jones told ABC10 he wanted to have them fully implemented for all of his officers within six months. However, because of the coronavirus pandemic, that timeline was pushed back because of logistics to getting deputies together and training them.
Even so, many community activists say the timeline of implementing the cameras for all officers by June isn't soon enough.