Phoenix officer held in prostitution case

A Phoenix police officer was arrested in El Paso last week on suspicion of soliciting prostitution, officials said.
Sheldon Czegledi, 47, identified by the Phoenix Police Department as a Central City Precinct patrol officer, was arrested Friday night, El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Christina Acosta said.

Officials said Czegledi was arrested as part of a sting by sheriff's detectives in which a female deputy was working as "a decoy female prostitute."

In a Sheriff's Office report on the incident, Czegledi was alleged to have driven up to the female deputy standing on the street in front of a hotel parking lot and solicited her for "sexual intercourse for a fee of $45."

The report says Czegledi then gave the decoy officer "$5 for a deposit and stated he would return."
Shortly thereafter, deputies stopped Czegledi's car and he was arrested.

Czegledi was booked into a Sheriff's Office jail.

The report said the conversation between Czegledi and the female deputy was recorded.

Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Steve Martos said that once the Phoenix department receives an official report from El Paso, "We expect to conduct an administrative investigation into the matter."

Martos would not speculate on what sort of professional penalty an officer arrested and convicted of soliciting prostitution might receive but said it was not automatically a firing offense.

Martos said Czegledi was a 14-year veteran of the Phoenix force.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/08/30/20110830phoenix-officer-held-prostitution-case.html

Phoenix police apply for grant to buy on-officer video cameras

While the social and economic aid programs are defunded or shut down one by one, the Phoenix PD drop half a mil on control technology

Phoenix police officials have applied for a $500,000 grant that would allow them to buy on-officer video cameras for as many as 50 officers.

Officials expect to hear by early September whether they will receive the money through a partnership with Arizona State University and the U.S. Department of Justice called the Smart Policing Initiative grant.

Earlier this year, Phoenix officers tested the system, in which small video cameras are attached to an officer's uniform. The pilot program was conducted for free, with 18 officers split between the Cactus Park and South Mountain precincts.

"Talk about increasing transparency," Phoenix police Lt. Mike Kurtenbach said. "You don't get much more transparent than video."

The three-month trial that ended in June resulted in 860 hours of video. From that, footage is being used as court evidence in 62 cases, Kurtenbach said. Those cases are still working their way through the system. Attorneys have told Kurtenbach that having video footage is a powerful piece of evidence, he said.

The camera is worn like a Bluetooth device, around the head and over the ear. The officer controls when it is turned on and off through a remote control on his or her chest. A video monitor is attached to the belt.

"A unique feature is that once activated, an officer can't delete or edit the footage," Kurtenbach said. "So we have it all."

Arizona law requires that only one person be aware that they are being recorded, but officers answered questions when asked if they were recording.

"Some citizens keyed in on it right away and asked if the officer was wearing a camera," Kurtenbach said.

There were instances when the cameras were turned off: for example, during interviews with children or during bathroom breaks.

Phoenix police tested Scottsdale-based Taser International's Axon cameras, but there are other companies who sell similar versions.

The grant doesn't specify what brand of cameras would be purchased, but an Axon camera costs about $1,700, plus an annual $1,200 each to store the footage. The federal Smart Policing grant requires police agencies to enlist a research partner - in Phoenix's case, it's ASU - to collect and analyze the data and measure the effectiveness of their efforts.

The on-officer video-camera pilot program was one of 34 Phoenix-wide recommendations developed by a city task force in January to improve relations between the Police Department and community. Kurtenbach was a member of the task force.

The City Manager's Community Engagement and Outreach Task Force was established in April 2010 after several police incidents angered residents, including a March 2010 incident in which City Councilman Michael Johnson, who is African-American, was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by a White officer.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/2011/08/07/20110807phoenix-police-video-cameras.html

Arizona city police to get wearable video cameras

LAKE HAVASU CITY - Lake Havasu City police will soon be equipped with head-mounted video cameras that record their contacts with suspects and citizens.

The city is buying a system from Scottsdale-based Taser International that captures video and audio for later use in court or in other cases where the officer's actions might be in question.

The AXON system has been tested across Mohave County in recent months. Lake Havasu will be the first city in the state to deploy the units operationally.

It is buying seven units, and 90 percent of their cost is being paid for with a U.S. Justice Department grant.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/10/11/20101011arizona-city-police-wearable-video-cameras11-ON.html