By Ben Aguirre Jr.
Inside Bay Area
FREMONT, Calif. — It’s expensive, but in the end it could become a priceless tool for police officers, the city and its residents.
The City Council has approved purchasing a half-million-dollar in-car video camera system that will record the happenings inside and outside police patrol vehicles.
Those images, police say, will increase conviction rates and help the department become more transparent to citizens, among other things.
“Transparency is so important because the community has to feel the officers are doing the right thing,” said Lt. Mark Riggs, who’s in charge of the project.
The purchase, which will cost roughly $548,000, was approved at the April 8 council meeting. If all goes as planned, the cameras could make their way into all 60 Fremont police cruisers sometime this summer.
“It’s a great idea,” Mayor Bob Wasserman said. “Long time coming.”
“Testimony is one thing, but when you can show someone what happened, there’s not a whole lot to argue about,” he added.
The notion of cameras in police vehicles is nothing new.
In fact, Wasserman, who served as the city’s police chief from 1976 to 1991, considered cameras in vehicles towardthe end of his law enforcement career. However, he said, the technology still was relatively new.
Current police Chief Craig Steckler said he has been kicking the idea around for about five years, but he knew the city could not afford it.
Then last year, the department identified a Vehicle Replacement Fund — a one-time pool of money ($448,786) that had built up through the years — that would be able to fund the majority of the project. The remaining $99,045 is being funded through a federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant.
“I think it’s going to benefit the officers and be a great training tool,” Steckler said. “It will protect them from unwarranted complaints. It’ll (also) help them document their activities during arrests and citations.”
In July 2007, Steckler entrusted Riggs with the project.
The lieutenant assembled a committee of involved parties — dispatchers, officers, and others — and they began researching the history of cameras, how they worked and what companies could provide the necessary services.
By the end of the year, the committee had interviewed more than two dozen police agencies across the country, come up with a list of necessities, and narrowed the field of vendors down to a half-dozen.
In January, the department again whittled the field of vendors, and the top two were allowed to bring their equipment in for a four-week trial period. After the trial, the committee decided that the equipment from International Police Technologies was the best for the department.
The issue then was proposed to the council, which unanimously approved the purchase.
“I really believe the technological advances are going to be beneficial for the community,” Riggs said.
By mid-summer, all of the vehicles could be outfitted with two cameras: one to record what happens at the front of the vehicle, and one to record the rear seat where prisoners are placed, Riggs said.
In addition to the cameras, which will automatically turn on during certain conditions — like a high rate of speed or the activation of the lights and sirens — each vehicle will be equipped with wireless audio recording devices.
At the end of each shift, the audio and video will be uploaded wirelessly to a secure database and server at the department. The video then will be saved for a minimum of one year and could be used as evidence in court.
“In the long run, it’s going to be a big asset to the city of Fremont and its citizens,” Riggs said.
Steckler concurred.
“All you need to do is defend yourself in one lawsuit ... and you’ve saved yourself the cost of the system,” he said.
Copyright 2008 Inside Bay Area