The events we have all witnessed on the national news concerning
use of force by police departments have raised considerable interest in their actions. In Breezy Point the
police officers have used squad car cameras for many years. Over the years technology has changed and so
has the use of video evidence. With
changes in technology more can be done, images are sharper, and the need to
preserve this evidence becomes more important.
Storage of video evidence uses a great deal of hard disk storage on
computers. It also requires a faster
processor and the ability to process that information quickly from squad car to
the server.
Maintaining this data has become a bit onerous on the
computer systems currently used by the city.
Hard drive storage is being rapidly used and it became more and more
apparent that a separate system was needed for this type of data. The increased use of video is also becoming
more pressing with the use of body cameras being discussed nationwide. There are a number of policy and data privacy
issues that need to be worked out before body cameras are common place. The day will come however when these issues
are worked out and body cameras become the norm. Having a system that meets current needs and
is prepared for this future was needed. It
was felt the department should provide for both the here and now and the
future.
Recognizing these needs, a new camera system for squad cars was
pursued along with a better system for managing video data. To address these issues, a dedicated server
to store the video data along with a Wi-Fi hotspot to download the videos into
the server was needed. This is a rather
significant investment. Total costs for
the in-car camera and server came to $10,855.
A portion of these costs were budgeted but part of the funds will be
handled with the use of alcohol forfeit funds.
With these secondary funds the budget isn’t affected as the resources are
available to make the purchase.
