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Clark County high school sports officials begin wearing body cams

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Clark County high school sports officials begin wearing body cams

CLARK COUNTY Wash. (KPTV) – High School sports have added another player to the roster, body cameras.

100 body cameras were distributed to umpires and referees around the state of Washington, including in Clark County, to wear during games in an effort to minimize the amount of ejections.

The volunteer- based pilot program began in December 2023 during basketball season. Justin Kesterson of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) says this was a way to cut down on the number of ejections during games.

“We had very few technical fouls that were issued during those basketball games. The number of contests where ejections occurred, were drastically decreased,” he said.

Keseterson says the cameras allow coaches and players to be on their best behavior, but most of the intense situations come from fans.

“People don’t want to take no for an answer,” he said. “There’s the issue of people following umpires and stuff and officials out to their cars after games and waiting for them outside. Trailing them home, there’s all kinds of situations.”

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The WIAA reported a total 89 ejections across eight boys and girls sports during the 2022-2023 school year. Boys soccer had the most with 21 ejections, followed by baseball with 20, 19 for football, and 16 for boys basketball. Girls soccer had four ejections, while softball had three and girls basketball had 2.

Kesterson said that umpires announce they have a camera, and flip the switch on so captains and coaches can see what it looks like. They then turn it off, and if something happens during the game, they flip it back on and it goes back and records the 30 seconds prior that they are able to save.

As WIAA still waits for the numbers for the baseball and softball during the 2023-24 season, Joe Lambert, an umpire at all levels for 20 years, says he has seen his fair share of interactions and takes precaution.

“Umpires, when they leave the field a lot of times they feel not safe at all,” he said. “You’re not going to get every call right. You’re human, umpires are humans, they have emotions and feelings. Anytime I leave the field, I will go off the field on the winning side.”

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Lambert says if he were offered, he wouldn’t wear a camera during Little League games because he doesn’t see the necessity.

“If I were in a bigger city or inner-city, absolutely, yes, because you don’t know what’s going to happen when you leave the field.”

$44,000 has been spent on body cameras already. WIAA say they’ve seen how cameras cause people to react in a different way.

“They think twice because they can see themselves, the screen is outward facing,” said Kesterson. “When they’re arguing with an official, they can see themselves in real time, what they look like when they’re yelling at the official.”

The WIAA says they want to make body cameras a more permanent practice and plan to add more cameras into the rotation, including during football games this coming fall.

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