Bridgeview trustees recently took up the issue of body cameras for village police officers.
With the passage of the SAFE-T Act, it became mandatory for police officers in Illinois to wear body cams while they are on duty.
Trustee Norma Pinion brought the issue before the board and reported on the results of an RFP committee, which issued a proposal for camera systems and pricing.
The recommended system from Midwest Public Safety (Getec) came at a proposed cost of $258,000, which included 70 cameras and five years of data storage.
The RFP committee, which was made up of Mayor Steven Landek’s administrative staff, police officers and police administrative staff, reviewed proposals and conducted in person questioning of the various systems, spent several months moving the RFP process forward.
“This is a large purchase and once we commit to the camera and data system, we don’t want to make a change,” Landek said. “We want to make sure the selection was the right selection.”
Police Chief Ric Mancha who also served on the committee said, “Getec was the best fit for Bridgeview. We currently have Getec in-car cameras, and they have worked really well. We like the capabilities of that system for officers to describe where the data will be saved on the street and the system limits later paperwork.”
Village officials questioned Mancha on several issues related to use and data storage and the elimination of archived files. According to Mancha, the body camera will capture video and audio of police interactions, as well as create an objective record that can be used in court or investigations. Officers along with their supervisors can also review footage to improve their professional performance.
Typically, camera body footage is kept for 90 days unless it has evidentiary value, in which case it will be stored until the case is complete. This includes any appeals of a case, which may result in some files being saved for many years. Storing the video files will add significant costs to the department and the camera system provides “cloud based” servers to retain the information. If Bridgeview were to store the material within the police department, a significant amount of server space would need to be purchased and maintained. A capacity far beyond most small departments.
Body cameras must be worn by all full-, part-time and auxiliary officers. They are small black devices worn on the police officers vest or jacket and each camera has a battery life of 12 hours.
The cameras are on order and delivery is expected within 45 days. Training with the new camera and the policies related to camera use will begin immediately with the process expected to be completed prior to the end of the year.
“There has been a lot of disagreement over the SAFE-T Act, which was passed by the state legislature several years ago,” Mancha said. “However, I have been a police officer for over 30 years and I have to say the body camera is a piece of technology which will improve transparency and build trust within the community. This in itself outweighs the challenges of the cameras.
Anyone who has a future interaction with a Bridgeview police officer should expect that the interaction will be recorded.
“With the new law comes new changes,” Mancha said. “It is a good change for Bridgeview and its police department.”