For the past 12 years, the Evesham Township Police Department has employed the use of video cameras in all its patrol vehicles, and now the department is taking that policy to the next logical step.
The E.T.P.D. recently announced the addition of body cameras for all 48 patrol officers.
The TASER AXON brand body cameras, measuring only about 3.5 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide by 1 inch deep, will feature a 130-degree wide-angle lens and will be equipped near the center of all patrol officers’ chests.
With the press of a single button, officers will activate the cameras in any instance of an officer interacting with a member of the public.
The cameras constantly record with a 30-second loop, meaning when an officer activates the camera, the events 30 seconds prior to the activation will be included in the recording.
Those using the cameras cannot affect or tamper with any of the videos recorded, as they are directly uploaded to evidence.com, the same cloud-based storage system used by agencies such as the CIA.
Evesham Police Chief Christopher Chew said with living in a society where almost all citizens carry at least one device featuring a method of recording video, it was imperative the department ensure police encounters were recorded properly from start to finish.
“We have the ability to record, so instead of someone recording us and only capturing 10 seconds of the incident and painting a different picture, now we control the whole scene,” he said.
Chew said the cameras will remove any “he said, she said” disputes between officers and citizens.
“With this, not only does it ensure accountability with our officers, they’re going to adhere to our policies like they do now but even more stringent, and now the public knows they can’t go in there and make up stuff.”
With Evesham Police interacting with civilians tens of thousands of a times a year, Chew cited the success of other police departments on the west coast where similar body camera programs have been popular for some time.
“There was one police department out in California, Rialoto Police Department; they did a one year study, a trial period — an 86 percent reduction in complaints against police officers,” Chew said. “That’s huge, considering last year we had over 80,000 contacts with our citizens and people outside of our community.”
The hardware cost of the cameras was around $16,000, with the cloud storage component cost about $47,000, for a total near $63,000.
The money for the program was funded through a $55,000 five-year capital bond and forfeiture funds.
Chew acknowledged the initial cost as “significant,” but it was his belief from studies and research that, over the course of time, it would save the department money.
“We did the research,” Chew said. “As a result of getting cameras, studies have proven that legal complaints, use of force and workman’s compensation reductions over a three-year period for every police department our size, an average of $117,000 that the town will save,” he said.
Chew also expects another $94,000 in savings in civilian and department costs.
“That’s a result of us now wearing body cameras, we’re capturing a true crime scene as the events unfold, which means our officers have to spend less time in court, overtime, days off, investigating frivolous internal affairs complaints or lawsuits,” Chew said.
Chew said as technology evolves, the department must integrate it into operations.
“With technology, we got to take advantage of it, be more efficient, more effective going forward,” Chew said.
