When is the right time to turn on the camera?

While it is clearly not necessary to record a police officer’s wife asking him to bring home a bottle of milk, there is otherwise no consensus as to when the camera should be switched on or off.

Sandra McFarland, New York-based senior vice president and public entity placement specialist for Marsh L.L.C., said: “There’s definitely a problem with the fact that there’s so many different protocols.”

Insurers are concerned about the issue, said Monte Giddings, Kansas City, Missouri-based senior vice president and public entity practice leader for CBIZ Insurance Services Inc.

“If you follow the news articles, there are so many times where, at a key moment, the body camera goes off. That would be a negative for insurance companies,” he said.

The officer “should be allowed to use his discretion, like he would in the use of a weapon or a tactic,” said David L. Salmon, senior law enforcement adviser and risk manager at Spring, Texas-based OSS Law Enforcement Advisors.

Meanwhile, more police departments are using more sophisticated cameras that turn on automatically at certain times — for instance, when a police officer’s gun is removed from its holster, said Brad Bohler, Chicago-based senior vice president of client risk management for Brit Global Specialty USA, a unit of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd.

There is a “fine balance” needed in determining whether these automatic cameras are worth their additional cost, “but the subject matter experts say the costs are worth it,” he said.