A body camera worn by a member of the Windham County Sheriff’s Office. Photo by Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons
Sheriff Keith Clark said last week he’s begun issuing body cameras to his deputies after a bidding, review and purchase process that lasted months.
Only half of the office’s 30 cameras had arrived as of Wednesday. But Clark said he’s eager to put them to use as a tool to boost public trust and improve police work.
“It fulfills a lot of needs in this day and age,” Clark said.
The Newfane-based sheriff’s department, which handles municipal patrol contracts, state prisoner transports and other work, issued a request for body camera bids late last year. Clark said there were six bidders evaluated by a team of supervisors in the sheriff’s department.
Sgt. Dana Shepard, of the Windham County Sheriff’s Office, shows off his new body camera. Photo by Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons
“The company’s been around for a long time,” Clark said. “It’s the quality of the product, reliability, battery life, ease of use by the deputies, quality of imagery.”
The sheriff’s office has received 15 standard cameras that mount to an officer’s chest, Clark said. Still to come are another 15 that are more flexible and can be mounted to a collar, shoulder, hat or even a pair of glasses.
The cameras cost just under $15,000. Clark said he received permission from an assistant judge to pay for the equipment via “some money left over in the county budget.”
The most worrisome expense for some police departments is associated with storing the video collected by body cameras. Even relatively short videos can eat up a lot of space, and Clark said some storage services cost more than the cameras themselves.
At this point, Clark said, “we do have enough server space that we can store a significant amount” of video. Alternate storage media could be used for video after a certain period of time, he added.
Ultimately, however, the sheriff said his office probably will have to invest in a cloud storage product.
Clark said his staff has been receptive to wearing cameras, and he’s encouraging people who are curious about the equipment to ask a deputy to explain. “I think some people are aware (of body cameras), and some people may not be,” he said.
Cruiser videos have long been used by police departments. But Clark sees clear benefits to having a more extensive video record of crime scenes and of various interactions with the public.
“It protects the deputies and protects the public,” Clark said. “I think that’s the most important piece of it.”
He also believes there are potential training benefits for deputies, as videos could help determine whether best practices are being used in the field.
The office’s cameras won’t be on all the time; instead, they’ll have to be manually activated by a deputy. Clark said the sheriff’s department has policies governing appropriate use of the cameras, but his general guidance is “when in doubt, turn it on.”
He expects the office’s policies will change over time because “this is an ever-evolving policy and legal issue.”
Some Vermont police departments have been using body cameras, but they’re still far from ubiquitous.
Burlington police recently received approval to expand their use of body cameras by purchasing 115 new units. But the state’s biggest law enforcement organization – the Vermont State Police – doesn’t yet use the technology.
“There is an ongoing effort to explore the potential acquisition of them by (the state police), including the associated costs,” spokesman Scott Waterman said Wednesday.
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