Most law enforcement agencies in Florida use body cameras because the benefits are plentiful.

Video footage helps prosecutors make cases against bad guys. It protects officers from bogus accusations. And it goes a long way toward building public trust, since the compact, chest- and shoulder-mounted units provide unblinking, unbiased evidence when discrepancies arise.

Yet while local departments throughout Florida have made body cameras standard equipment for sworn officers, the Florida Highway Patrol has not.

Scott Maxwell is an Orlando Sentinel columnist.

That issue is getting renewed attention as Gov. Ron DeSantis has started using the FHP for nontraditional duties — everything from standing guard at crosswalks that the governor doesn’t want to see colored with chalk to assisting federal agents on immigration sweeps and arrests.

The issue was examined in detail last month by the Tallahassee Democrat and USA Today Network in their piece: “Florida’s leading agency for immigration arrests doesn’t use body cameras. Why it matters.”

The story highlighted an incident in which a trooper bashed in the window of a car driven by a Mexican national who didn’t speak English. Incident details were incomplete because “troopers don’t wear body cameras, leaving only a written account and limited views from dash camera footage.” In this case, the story noted that the arresting officer also “had country music playing from her vehicle louder than the audio on the dash footage.”

A week before, the Palm Beach Post wrote about dropped charges against an 18-year-old of Guatemalan descent who was born in America. “I have the right to talk,” the teen tried to tell the arresting officers — only to have one respond: “You have no rights here. You are a ‘Migo, brother.” That officer was wrong. That story got out because the teen himself video-recorded the arrest.

I’ve been writing about body cams for more than a decade, and every chief and sheriff I’ve interviewed who implemented body cameras as standard equipment described them as good for both their departments and the public trust.

“At first, I thought my most aggressive cops wouldn’t want it,” said Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood. “I was wrong. They wanted it. It was the bums who didn’t want it.”

“Everything’s been positive,” said former Kissimmee Chief Jeff O’Dell before he retired. “We do far more good than otherwise. People should see that.”

And the chief of the Windermere Police Department — one of the first local departments to implement body cams force-wide back in 2013 — said the cameras prompted an immediate drop in complaints against his officers. “They’ve been a great asset to us,” Chief Dave Ogden said way back then, stressing a point that sticks with me 12 years later: “We just want to be transparent. I really think these guys do a good job. I have confidence in them. And I want citizens to have confidence in us.”

Makes sense, doesn’t it? If you’re convinced your officers are doing a good job, you want the proof to show it. So why doesn’t the highway patrol?

I asked FHP what percentage of troopers use body cameras and whether they had any plans to institute them force-wide. FHP’s director of communications would only say that “the overwhelming majority of FHP incidents are recorded via dash and/or body camera with microphone audio as well” and then said the “FHP is committed to transparency to protect both the agency and the public.”

First of all, there’s a big difference between body cameras and dashboard ones. Just ask all the police and sheriff’s departments that decided stationary dash cams, which are sometimes far removed from the action, were antiquated and inadequate.

Second, it’s pretty rich to hear a department that refuses to use body cameras to capture all its interactions and won’t even answer basic questions claim it’s “committed to transparency.”

Body cameras aren’t a panacea. They aren’t always pointed in the ideal direction. They must be turned on. And there can be concerns about privacy. But life is always about trade-offs. And most police forces have concluded that body cameras provide far more benefits than drawbacks.

Among the most significant benefits: Departments that started using body cameras saw citizen complaints about excessive force and inappropriate conduct plummet — by as much as 88%, according to one study out of California.

Why? Because people rarely file unfounded complaints when they know the truth is on camera. And because officers are more likely to follow the book when they know it’s all on camera. Basically, everyone behaves better when they know there’s an unblinking eye watching.

Scott Maxwell is an Orlando Sentinel columnist.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/09/09/florida-highway-patrol-no-body-cameras/