The Fort Collins Police department is investigating its own after an internal audit revealed dozens of police body cam videos weren’t properly logged.
The audit, conducted in March, revealed 38 videos weren’t stored properly by officers in the system.
In seven cases, neither defense attorneys nor the District Attorney could have known there were videos attached to the case.
“This was totally unintentional,” said Sgt. Dean Cunningham, who was one of the first officers in the department to begin using a body camera in 2013.
Cunningham said all of the cases ended in guilty plea bargains and most involved duplicate video that was properly filed by other officers.
“In all of these cases there was more than enough evidence to move forward with the case and for the attorneys and the defendants to take pleas in those cases,” he said.
The DA’s office was immediately notified after the audit and has contacted the courts and defense attorneys whose cases may be affected.
“The officers simply had an oversight in the way that they were labeling their evidence,” he said.
Cunningham said the department is now retraining officers on protocol and sergeants will now oversee logs.
He said they will continue to work on expanding the program, which was one of the firsts in the state.
“We realize that for the trust of our community any error is unacceptable,” he said.
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