By Charlie McKenna
masslive.com
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — The North Andover Police Department said Monday that it is “working actively” to implement body-worn cameras for officers, a move that comes on the heels of former officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons’ acquittal in a case that may have played out differently if the town had invested in such cameras.
Police Chief Charles Grey blamed “startup and program maintenance costs” for keeping body-worn cameras “out of reach” for the department. But in a statement, he said the implementation of cameras was a priority for both him and the town’s Select Board and would be a focus for the department’s budget.
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The department and town intend to move forward on a proposal for a body-worn camera program “as soon as possible,” Grey said.
Fitzsimmons, 29, was accused of pointing a gun at a fellow officer serving her a restraining order taken out by her then-fiancé last June. At her trial, the officer, Patrick Noonan, testified that Fitzsimmons pointed a gun at his face and tried to fire it. Noonan then shot Fitzsimmons in the chest.
But Fitzsimmons maintained that she tried to take her own life and never pointed a weapon at Noonan. Her defense claimed Noonan made a mistake when he shot Fitzsimmons, then took steps to conceal his error. Last week, Fitzsimmons’ lawyers revealed she was planning a lawsuit against the town.
Since Noonan and the other officers inside Fitzsimmons’ home that night were not wearing body cameras, the case essentially came down to his word against hers.
Judge Jeffrey T. Karp highlighted that fact when laying out his reasons for acquitting Fitzsimmons of a felony assault charge.
“Perhaps the commonwealth could have easily met its burden if the officers had been wearing body cameras,” he said.
Body-worn cameras have emerged as a major flashpoint in the prosecution of another police officer.
Boston Police Officer Nicholas O’Malley is charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of Stephenson King, whom prosecutors say assaulted a woman and stole a car before being shot by O’Malley.
While O’Malley told investigators he feared for the life of his partner, the “investigation ... established that this statement was not true,” a prosecutor said in court during the officer’s arraignment last month.
“The Commonwealth’s contention in charging this case is that Officer O’Malley shot and killed Mr. King in circumstances that did not amount to proper self-defense or defense of another, and therefore didn’t warrant deadly force,” said the prosecutor, Ian Polumbaum.
In 2021, Massachusetts established a Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Program, which allows police departments to apply for state grant money to either create a body-worn camera program in their departments or expand an existing one.
Since then, the program has helped 144 departments buy more than 4,800 body-worn cameras and the equipment needed to operate and maintain them, according to the state.
Starting in fiscal year 2022, local police have invested close to $13 million in state grants in body-worn camera programs. But the grant program ended in 2026, with 32 departments being awarded roughly $3.5 million between them.
Body-worn cameras “can be a useful tool in preserving evidence of police misconduct, providing greater oversight, and increasing accountability of police officers,” said the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
North Andover never applied for or received grant funding for police body-worn cameras, a spokesman confirmed. The department did receive funds through the American Rescue Plan Act, which were used for pole and street cameras.
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