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Council, city want body cameras for police

Warren just needs plan to pay for them

WARREN — Adding body cameras to the equipment used by the Warren Police Department is a matter of figuring out how to pay for the system, according to Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert.

Warren will have its second meeting discussing purchasing body cameras for the department at 4 p.m. Wednesday, during a special council-as-a-whole meeting. The meeting will discuss both the purchase of body cameras and the use of surveillance cameras throughout the city.

Councilman Ron White last month attempted to outline the reasons for purchasing body cameras by bringing a vendor to a council meeting with expertise in the subject. Because the vendor was not on the agenda, however, he was not allowed to make a presentation.

“I think there is a need for body cameras both to protect our officers against false accusations made by people involved during their interactions with police officers, and would provide crucial evidence about what happened during an incident that may assist civilians during contact with officers,” he said.

White said there are times when residents will turn in cellphone videos of police interactions with civilians, but these cellphone images generally do not provide context for what happened immediately before the incident; nor do these videos provide the viewpoints of the officers as they enter the situations.

“What we are looking for is transparency,” White said. “There are many in the community that are in favor of officers having body cameras on them, so we will know what happened during any given instance.”

White cites that a number of area police departments, including Niles and Girard, having the cameras.

GIRARD AND CANFIELD

Girard police Chief John Norman recalled the department getting body cameras last summer after Mayor James Melfi encouraged him to do some research on the pros and cons.

“We purchased 10 cameras for a total of $17,000, which includes the hardware and software packages and the cost of cloud (data) storage,” Norman said.

These cameras have been helpful in settling differing versions of what occurred during interactions between officers and the public, he said.

Mayor Jim Melfi emphasized the cameras were paid for through funds generated by speed-enforcement cameras placed around the community.

Canfield police Chief Chuck Colucci said the village is expecting to purchase between nine and 22 body cameras for officers at a cost of $30,000 to $35,000.

“We have been using in-vehicle cameras since 1998 and we are upgrading the system, so we will be able to use body cameras,” Colucci said. “Having these cameras have been nothing but a positive for us.”

Canfield has an in-house storage system for the data collected from the in-vehicle images, instead of using the cloud for data storage.

“We’ve expanded the storage capability over the last year, so we will be able to store the data from the new body cameras,” Colucci said.

WARREN COSTS

Colbert emphasized that Mayor Doug Franklin and police Chief Eric Merkel both agree that obtaining body cameras for Warren officers is a goal they would like to accomplish.

The issue is what policies need to be put in place for the use and storage of the images obtained, how the cameras would be paid for and the cost of storage of the images.

Colbert said the administration has received cost estimates that range between $150,000 and $200,000 per year to have and operate a body camera system.

“It is not as simple as some would like people to believe,” Colbert said.

“We had a vendor come in and give us a demonstration on the cameras and their uses,” Colbert said. “We have to determine whether it is best to have a local server or to store the images using the cloud.”

Councilman Larry Larson, D-1st Ward, said he wants to hear the pros and cons, including the costs of purchasing and maintaining the equipment and the images.

“I want to hear everything because I don’t know anything about body cameras,” he said. “I know there are some people that really want them, but is having the body cameras really needed?”

Councilman Ken MacPherson, D-5th Ward, agrees there are questions, including differences in the storage and use of images obtained from body cameras versus those obtained from cameras mounted in police vehicles.

MacPherson also questions what the rules are for public release of images obtained through body cameras, versus those obtained through cameras in police vehicles.

Councilman Greg Greathouse, D-4th Ward, said he has “not seen the overwhelming need to spend the money for them. We’re potentially talking about a substantial amount of money. Those that are for this should tell us how they will be paid for.”

rsmith@tribtoday.com

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