David Phillips, right, father of Desmond Phillips, talks to Police Chief Mike O’Brien and DA Mike Ramsey at today’s meeting.
The Chico Police Department – criticized for not having body cameras on its officers in the recent killing of a mentally disturbed young black man – deployed those cameras on Saturday, Chief of Police Mike O’Brien said today.
O’Brien made the surprise announcement at the somewhat raucous April 3 meeting of the Human Relations Network of Butte County (HRN), at which he and Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey revealed more details and answered questions about the Chico police shooting of 25-year-old Desmond Phillips on March 17. Two officers fired 16 rounds, with 10 bullets hitting Phillips, Ramsey said.
Chico police tested and selected body cameras for use in 2015, but deployment was delayed, partly to obtain funding for costly data storage. The latest delays were attributed to a persistent glitch in being able to transmit camera data from Chico PD to the district attorney’s office. O’Brien said that issue was finally fixed, and that all uniformed patrol officers began April 1 using the cameras, which are affixed to the officer’s chest and are supposed to be turned on in any enforcement action.