Everett Police Body Camera Pilot Project To Begin By End Of Year

June 13, 2019

Police Blotter

cameras

Everett Police plan to try out a couple of styles of body cameras in a pilot project to begin later this year.

Wednesday night Everett Police Chief Dan Templeman told members of the Everett City Council Public Safety Committee he sees body cameras becoming a staple of the police tool belt like handcuffs and radios.

Templeman outlined an incremental implementation starting with a pilot program over a period of six to twelve months involving a squad of officers using ten to twelve cameras.

Templeman told the committee he’s been looking at the cameras since 2014. He brought two models to show council members. One, mounted on a pair of glasses and the other mounted on the chest of the uniform or on the officer’s belt. Templeman says he prefers the latter as the glasses mounted cameras appeared to come loose easily.

As for why he wants the body cameras Chief Templeman said the positives were:

  • They record in real time.
  • While not foolproof they give an objective perspective of the interaction.
  • They have been shown to improve public trust.
  • They have been shown to reduce the number of use of force incidents by officers.
  • They have been shown to reduce the number of citizen complaints against officers.
  • Behavior on both sides of the camera has been shown to improve when they are in use.

    While Templeman says he believes body cameras are a good tool for the Everett Police Department there are a number of considerations including:

  • Privacy, including victims, people’s homes, medical institutions and sensitive crimes against persons.
  • Expense, the most expensive part is not the equipment but cost of data storage, especially long term.
  • Public Disclosure, must have a tangible reason can’t just ask to see for the sake of it.
  • Administration, costs in time and personnel to manage, train, maintain, recover and track video.
  • Policy, creating actual policies, getting public input and assessing officer’s experience using the cameras on the job.

    Chief Templeman plans to involve his Chief’s Advisory Committee in working out the policies which still have to be agreed upon with the city and also the Everett Police Officer’s Unions before the pilot project can start.



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