Peters Township police to use body cameras
Police officers in Peters Township will use body cameras next year as part of a no-cost test program.
Township council voted Nov. 13 to authorize the police department to take Axon, formerly known as TASER International, up on its offer to provide the necessary equipment for free during 2018.
The cost afterward would be spread out over several years, with an investment of $15,000 or $16,000 the first year, according to police Chief Douglas Grimes, who submitted a capital improvement program proposal to the township with a request for $45,000 for 2020.
“This project involves the acquisition of 29 body-worn cameras, power packs” and memory cards, he stated in the proposal. “Each officer would be assigned a camera and be responsible for uploading the content of the body camera each shift.”
He further elucidated during the council meeting.
“The way I view these cameras is as if they were a weapon, where each officer gets his own camera,” Grimes said, “We could go with half as many, but the cameras have to charge, and they take three hours or so to charge fully. We run 12-hour shifts, so there’s no real opportunity there from one shift to the next for cameras to charge.”
Police cruisers already are equipped with cameras and audio recorders.
“The videos from the cars have certainly helped us resolve issues where there’s a discrepancy between what the police officer recollected about an incident, what the person recollected about an incident and what actually happened,” township manager Paul Lauer said.
Grimes told council about a recent incident:
“Somebody came in to complain about an officer. I reviewed the audio footage from the traffic stop. The guy indicated he did not say something that the officer had written into the report. I invited him back in and said, ‘Do you want to hear the (audio)?’ He said, ‘No, thanks. I apologize.’ It was worth its weight in gold on that day.”
As for body cameras, Grimes explained that the state’s Act 22 of 2017, which took effect in July, no longer requires law enforcement personnel to announce that they are recording.
“I still think there are some kinks to be worked out in the law, and with the camera systems, there are going to be some court challenges,” he said. “I think the technology continues to evolve. But I think, regardless, in a year or two we’re going to be going down this road.”
More action is necessary before the body-camera program goes into action.
“We should not be using them until we have a policy in effect that’s been reviewed by the solicitor and approved by council,” council Chairman Frank Arcuri said.
Grimes explained that the Allegheny County Chiefs of Police Association has drafted a policy that can be used as a model for one in Peters.
He also spoke about the technological capabilities that Axon potentially could provide.
“They’re moving in a direction where this camera and this audio will, in effect, become your police report. There will be no typing or writing of a report.”
In other police-related business at the council meeting, the township acknowledged residents Mark Raymond and Michael Wagner and their company, Target Freight Management, for donating a new motorcycle to the department. The gift is in memory of Scott L. Bashioum, the Canonsburg police officer who was killed while responding to a domestic violence incident in November 2016.