Body-worn video cameras help keep public, police on record

The purchase of body-worn video cameras for Tecumseh Police Department (TPD) officers that was approved at the September 2 Tecumseh City Council meeting have been in use since the first week in October, according to Tecumseh Police Chief Troy Stern. “We’ve been pretty happy with them so far,” Stern said. “It took a little bit of time to get accustomed to utilizing them.”Twelve — one for every officer — VIEVU LE3 cameras were purchased at a cost of $9,560, or about $796 a camera, in addition to the demo model the department already had. The LE3 retails on VIEVU’s website for $899.95. An additional $5,040.15 was spent on server space for storing the video and audio files. At the September 2 city council meeting, Stern said that the video and audio files from the cameras would be stored for 90 days unless the data is part of a court investigation, and then it would be kept for a longer period.“There have been instances where they have been used in court,” said Stern. The camera clips to an officer’s uniform and filming begins when the shutter is opened. Filming stops when the shutter is closed.Stern said there are policies in place dictating when the cameras are to be used and administrators monitor that officers are following those policies. “They’re basically used with every citizen contact,” Stern said, adding that there are situations where privacy is of concern and where it would be appropriate to turn them off. They are used in traffic stops and when fielding complaints. The files are initially stored on the camera, which can operate for up to 12 continuous hours. The data is downloaded to a server in the department, which allows officers to go back and review the video while writing their reports. “This allows us to write more accurate depictions of what’s going on,” Stern added. The purchase of the cameras came from Tecumseh City Council eliminating the $30,000 capital improvement projects line item for one new police car at the September 2 meeting. Stern, then, said that the purchase of a new patrol car could wait until next fiscal year. The current, dashboard-mounted cameras located in the patrol cars are “end of life equipment” said Stern in September. “We no longer have a maintenance agreement on them [dash-mounted cameras]. If something goes down, it’s down, unless we replace that,” Stern said at the city council meeting.The VIEVU LE3 is able to film in either 1280×720 high-definition or 848×480 widescreen standard-definition with enhanced image quality and low-light capability with 16GB of internal data storage. The camera is waterproof, though non-submersible, with a field of view of 68 degrees while weighing 2.8 ounces.

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