Readers: Body Cameras For Local Police Worth The Expense

In the poll last week readers overwhelmingly indicated they believe body cameras for local police are worth the expense, here are the results:

Q: Are body cameras for local police worth the expense?

1. Yes 67 [72.83%]
2. Maybe 13 [14.13%]
3. No 9 [9.78%]
4. Unsure/No Opinion 3 [3.26%]

With so many jurisdictions and police departments we’ll likely see a patchwork. One August 20th now suburb voted to equip their officers with cameras:

The Ellisville City Council unanimously approved Wednesday night buying body cameras for each of the city’s 24 officers at a cost of $7,500.

Police Chief Tom Felgate said he thought of making the proposal a year ago. “It’s for the protection of the officers,” said Felgate, who also said the body cameras will likely reduce complaints from violators. (stltoday)

Last month the issue was debated within City Hall:

The cost to outfit the city’s police force with body cameras will come with a price tag of $1.2 million — and that’s just the start.

Richard Gray, the city’s public safety director, told an aldermanic committee on Tuesday morning that the department would need an additional $500,000 to cover labor and maintenance costs, plus an increase in the department’s annual budget of about $800,000 to $900,000 for replacement and maintenance costs. (stltoday)

The police union is speaking up:

The police union said it must agree to any policy covering body cameras before a policy is adopted.

“They can’t employ this equipment without violating the union contract they signed,” said Jeff Roorda with the St. Louis Police Officers Association.

Union representatives told News 4 police and the union must forge an agreement on what the recordings will be used for before any decision is made on whether to use body cameras. (KMOV)

Over the weekend a Ferguson officer was shot in the arm, but the camera wasn’t turned on. Other departments have a way to deal with this:

There’s also an important feature called the pre-event video buffer.

The camera, always on, records half-minute clips. If nothing happens, the piece is erased and the camera starts over. But if an officer spots something and hits the record button, the previous 30 seconds is preserved at the beginning of the recording. (San Francisco Gate)

I’ve not seen any mention of this 30 second buffer in local news reporters.

Further reading:

• New York Times: Wearing a Badge, and a Video Camera
• Vox: How body cameras could change police

Hopefully we’ll see more use of body cameras and a reduction of force, citizen complaints.

— Steve Patterson

October 2014: 10th Anniversary Month For UrbanReviewSTL.com

The last day of this month, Halloween 2014, is the 10th anniversary of UrbanReviewSTL.com. Throughout this month I’ll look back at the last 9 years 11 months, picking out some of my favorite topics from thousands of posts.

I started the blog as a way to focus after my dad’s heart attack ten years ago today, and his long recovery that October.  Writing, sharing my views & ideas turned out to be the perfect therapy for me.

In the last decade I’ve run for public office, bought a motor scooter, went car-free twice, both of my parents died, I had a stroke/became disabled, attended graduate school, and so much more.

If you’re so inclined, I’ve added a button at the top of the right sidebar for a $10 one-time donation. Thank you for reading UrbanReviewSTL.com

— Steve Patterson