--- description: Police officers in Chicago have tampered with dashcam devices to block microphones from picking up audio, according to new report. title: Chicago Police Officers Sabotaged Dashcams to Block Audio, Report Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chicago Police Officers Sabotaged Dashcams to Block Audio, Report Says  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 28, 2016 2:39 PM CUT  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 28, 2016 2:39 PM CUT Police officers in Chicago have tampered with dashcam devices to block microphones from picking up audio, according to new [report](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160127/archer-heights/whats-behind-no-sound-syndrome-on-chicago-police-dashcams "undefined"). Officers destroyed microphone antennas, hid microphones in glove compartments and removed batteries to keep their devices from functioning properly, [according to a report from DNAinfo Chicago](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160127/archer-heights/whats-behind-no-sound-syndrome-on-chicago-police-dashcams "undefined") that relies on a review of more than 1,800 police maintenance logs. A previous [report](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151221/loop/80-percent-of-chicago-police-dashcams-dont-properly-record-audio "undefined") by the local news outlet found that 80% of police dashcams in the city did not record audio properly. The investigation comes as officials continue to grapple with backlash over the death of 17-year-old [Laquan McDonald](http://time.com/4150307/cedrick-chatman-chicago-police-shooting/ "undefined") at the hands of police. The video shows officer Jason Van Dyke shooting and killing McDonald, but the audio is missing. Records uncovered by DNAinfo show that dashcam was scheduled to be repaired after intentional damage. \[[DNAinfo](https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160127/archer-heights/whats-behind-no-sound-syndrome-on-chicago-police-dashcams "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4197930/chicago-dashcam-audio-sabotage/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4197930/chicago-dashcam-audio-sabotage/"},"headline":"Chicago Police Officers Sabotaged Dashcams to Block Audio, Report Says","datePublished":"2016-01-28T14:39:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:31:54.386Z","description":"Officers destroyed microphone antennas, hid microphones in glove compartments and removed batteries to keep their devices from functioning properly","url":"https://time.com/4197930/chicago-dashcam-audio-sabotage/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4197930/chicago-dashcam-audio-sabotage/","name":"Chicago Police Officers Sabotaged Dashcams to Block Audio, Report Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Chicago Police Dept. Video","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Ri2eZRXQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-25T00:14:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Ri2eZRXQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4197930/chicago-dashcam-audio-sabotage/","duration":"PT1M43S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4197930/chicago-dashcam-audio-sabotage/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```