Patrol car cameras will
record officers in action
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer

VERONICA YANKOWSKI Newly installed video cameras in Howell police cars will record police activity when a motor vehicle stop is made.

Is it the eye of Big Brother or state-of-the-art policing? Howell patrolmen and residents will draw their own conclusions now that the police department’s patrol cars are equipped with new Mobile Vision video cameras.

The video equipment will be used to record the officers in the performance of their duties.

Traffic safety officer Matthew Bishop said patrolmen Richard Chiaro and Bernard Fowler received special training in the use of the video equipment at the Ocean County Police Academy, Lakewood.

Bishop said the two patrolmen developed a lesson plan for the rest of the department for training that began in late February. He said the training was developed using the attorney general’s guidelines integrated into the general order of procedure developed for the department by Chief Ronald Carter.

At a cost of $91,000, the video camera system was part of a 2002 bond issue purchase of computers and communications equipment. Bishop said the installation of the equipment is being completed now because the department was waiting for the purchase of some new cars before installing the compact cameras in all 26 marked patrol cars and canine patrol units.

He said the use of video cameras in patrol cars has been ongoing in law enforcement since the late 1980s.

Bishop said that in both Howell and law enforcement itself, as officers are individuals and individuals differ in their outlooks, opinions differ as to whether the innovation was a good one or not.

As far as Howell’s finest are concerned, Bishop said "90 to 95 percent of the officers seem fairly receptive to the idea of the cameras." He said "a handful are a little leery of the ‘big brother is watching’ aspect."

He said the younger officers seem to take easier to using any new equipment after having been pretty much raised on technology.

Bishop said he believes once the department has finished the training and the officers are comfortable with the operation of the equipment, "they will realize the benefits of the system."

Regarding the "big brother is watching" aspect of the initiative, Bishop noted that in Detroit, the cameras are on the entire time the officer is on duty with his patrol unit and records every word spoken, even personal conversations if an officer calls home.

Bishop said Howell’s system can be activated in three different ways by an officer, who is equipped with a body microphone as well as one in the patrol unit.

According to Bishop, when the patrol unit’s overhead emergency lights are turned on the video camera is automatically activated. He said the system can also be activated through the officer’s microphone or with the manual push of a button. Also, explained Bishop, in the course of an arrest, the cameras can be turned on the alleged violator.

Bishop said the new police department criteria calls for the camera to be used to record any motor vehicle stop, "from the stop to the drive-away." He said a major benefit for the officer during the course of a driving while intoxicated enforcement will be that the camera will record the driver’s operation of his vehicle.

Bishop said the clear benefit of the video system is that the camera is an "unbiased witness."

"As it is an unbiased witness it will exonerate officers of false claims or, at the other end of the spectrum, it will substantiate a legitimate claim," he said.

Bishop noted that in 2002, 137 complaints made against New Jersey police officers were cleared due to the arrest activity being recorded by a patrol car camera.

He said before an officer takes a patrol unit on the road, he completes a checklist. Checking the camera’s video film is now part of that checklist.

Bishop said if a video film has less than 30 minutes of time left on it, the officer is to notify his supervisor who will take charge of the used video film and issue a new one. He said only supervisors can remove and replace film in the cameras.

Bishop said there are also tight controls on the storage and access of film in order to guarantee the integrity of the film.