About three weeks ago, Ferguson police officers began using body cameras that were donated after controversy and riots followed another officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager. Officer Darren Wilson, who killed Michael Brown, is on leave from the department and under grand jury investigation.

Typical of such units, the camera monitors constantly but saves video only after the button is pushed. The images it stores begin 30 seconds before the activation and continue until it’s turned off.

The department policy states that officers and detectives are to activate their cameras “to record contacts with the general public.”

“This was a building check,” Eickhoff said. “These camera batteries are only good for three to four hours, so it’s not like they are running constantly.

“It takes time to do this. Things like using your walkie-talkie are instinctual,” he said, while the camera use “is all brand new.”

Eickhoff said the department may rethink its policy and require that cameras be turned on any time an officer gets out of the car. He said camera companies already are working to outfit the department with a second computer server to handle all of the images officers have downloaded.