DC fire chief has known about department's dash cam problems for over a year

WASHINGTON - D.C.'s fire chief has known for at least a year that dashboard cameras on many of the department's engines, trucks and ambulances do not work. It is an issue that came to light after one of the fire department's engines was involved in a deadly crash earlier this month and the dash camera onboard the vehicle did not record the collision.

Multiple sources within the fire department said D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Gregory Dean and his deputies knew about issues with the cameras. However, for whatever reason, they did do anything about it until this past January when a contractor was hired to take a close look at the program.

Last week, the fire department said in a news release that having working cameras on all of the units has been "unintentionally uneven" over the years. On Monday, Dabney Hudson, the president of the District's firefighter's union, said he knows Chief Dean knew about this issue because he talked to him about it.

"Similar reaction to everything - he has no good answer, he has no reason for it," said Hudson. "We had a discipline hearing not too long ago where two fire trucks collided and they couldn't get the cameras from either one of those. I brought this to his attention. It was unconscionable then and this was before the incident with Engine 26."

He said the fire department uses two different brands of dashboard cameras on its engines, trucks and ambulances.

One camera on Engine 7 on Monday lying on the dashboard not mounted properly, according to the firefighter's union. However, another one found on Rescue Squad 2 was positioned and mounted the way it was designed.

On March 9, a camera facing forward on Engine 26 should have recorded what happened when the fire truck collided with a vehicle at the intersection of Rhode Island Avenue and 12th Street in Northeast D.C. that killed 31-year-old DeAngelo Green, the driver of the car.

However, the camera did not have a memory card and no footage was recorded, according to the fire department.

At the scene on the day of the crash, Chief Dean said the driver of the fire truck had the green light.

D.C. police are investigating the crash and have not issued a final report.

But there is a reason why these cameras were purchased and put on fire apparatus in the first place.

"It's important to have those so that any incident you have - you have recorded data on it," said Hudson. "These things have been used in other situations - building collapses - things like that. If there is a trigger for that incident, we have been able to go back and investigate scenes. It's not just auto accidents that they are involved in. They have been used in other places like shootings. The guys can hit the panic button, which is on there for that reason and you can get recorded video. We are there believing that they work and not to have that, it does a disservice to everybody."

D.C. Fire and EMS declined to comment for our story. They are standing by the statement that was put out last week.