How a ‘fail-safe’ feature on body cams captured NY prison guards brutally beating Robert Brooks

Syracuse, N.Y. — Video footage of New York state corrections officers brutally beating an inmate last month was captured by a “fail-safe” feature on their body cameras that records even if an officer doesn’t activate the camera.

Four of the officers involved in the beating of inmate Robert L. Brooks had their Axon Body 3 cameras powered on, but had not double-pushed a button to start recording. The cameras were rolling anyways.

The cameras have a “video recall” function that continuously captures 30-minute clips of silent video.

It appears likely the guards didn’t know the cameras had the function.

One expert said he didn’t think the feature was well known among rank-and-file users of body cameras.

“I think a lot of officers are going to be surprised, I think a lot of members of the public are going to be surprised that the cameras can do this,” said Ian Adams, a former police officer who is now an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina.

The video recall function can record up to 18 hours of video on a rolling basis — the oldest half-hour clip is deleted as a new one is saved.

It is not clear whether prosecutors have been able to recover what could be up to 18 hours of video on each camera.

Attorney General Letitia James last month released all the footage her office had obtained — 30 minutes from each of the four officers’ body cameras. The videos show multiple corrections officers repeatedly punching and kicking Brooks in the groin, abdomen, face and back on Dec. 9 in the infirmary at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County.

Brooks was left bloodied and died the next day at a Utica hospital.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who has taken over the case as a special prosecutor, has said he will not comment until a grand jury has taken action on possible charges.

The video recall function is a relatively new addition to Axon body cameras, Adams said. He isn’t aware of another high-profile case that has depended on footage obtained through the recall function.

“It was intended that if there is a critical incident and the recording wasn’t captured, we still have a sort of fail-safe backup that investigators can get to that footage,” he said.

The function is off by default, and must be manually turned by camera administrators.

Not all police agencies use the video recall function.

For example, no body camera footage could be recovered after a deputy from the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office fatally shot two teenagers in a stolen car in September 2023. The deputy hadn’t started recording on his camera, and the video recall function isn’t enabled by the sheriff’s office.

Newer Axon body cameras allow for both audio and video to be recorded through the video recall function.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is currently testing a few of those newer cameras, according to spokesperson Thomas Mailey. He said the department is also working with Axon to modify the current fleet of 9,000 body cameras to record both audio and video through the video recall function.

“This was a feature not offered to the department when negotiating the initial contracts,” Mailey said.

Multiple federal and state agencies have opened investigations into Brooks’ beating.

Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the Marcy prison last month and named a new, permanent superintendent for the facility. She also announced a variety of initiatives to improve the larger state prison system.

The governor has ordered all state employees involved in the beating incident to be fired. State officials initially identified 14 employees, followed last week by another four. One corrections officer resigned before he could be disciplined.

Brooks, originally of Greece in Monroe County, was sentenced in 2017 to 12 years in prison on a first-degree assault charge. He was arrested after stabbing his girlfriend multiple times.

He had been held in the Mohawk Correctional Facility, records show, but was moved the day of the assault to the Marcy prison. State prison officials have declined to say why the transfer happened.

Staff writer Jon Moss covers breaking news, crime and public safety. He can be reached at jmoss@syracuse.com or @mossjon7.