Police support body cams, but wary of ban on self-reviewDate: 1/12/2022 WESTFIELD — Local police have mixed feelings on the $4 million in state grants awarded last week for body-worn cameras.
Southwick got a grant, and Westfield didn’t — because it didn’t ask.
The Westfield Police Department was unable to get full approval from its police union to apply for the grant. Police Chief Lawrence Valliere said that he and his officers are in favor of body-worn cameras in general, but are hung up on the wording of part of the police reform law passed last year.
The reform bill prohibits officers from being able to view their own body camera footage when they are writing a post-incident report, which Valliere said has been a major point of contention blocking the union, and himself, from implementing body-worn cameras.
“I am all for body cameras. The administration here is all for them,” said Valliere. “We just think we may be jumping the gun on the preferred way of rolling this out.”
The neighboring Southwick Police Department was able to receive funds from the state grant program for body cameras, but Chief Robert Landis said his officers’ union has the same concerns. The town was awarded $26,000 from the state, which Landis said would likely be able to pay for the equipment and storage needed for 10 body cameras for one year.
He said that the department has six months from the time the money is awarded to come to an impact bargaining agreement with the union surrounding the use of the cameras.
Landis, like Valliere and the Westfield police, is in favor of police-worn body cameras, and pointed to their benefits for both police officers and citizens. Advocates for police reform often push for body cameras for police with the idea that they will expose, or even prevent, police brutality.
From the perspective of the police, Landis said that the cameras can also help lower the number of erroneous complaints of police abuse.
“In my experience as an investigator for years, 95 percent of complaints could have been resolved by viewing body camera footage,” said Landis. “Most complaints, looking at the data, come from areas where body cameras aren’t used. When they know there is footage, many people won’t follow through with complaints.”
Should Southwick’s police union accept an agreement to implement the cameras, the $26,000 would cover the program for one year, after which the town would need to fund it, unless more grant money is awarded from the state.
Landis said that ideally, all officers would be able to have their own cameras, as switching cameras from person to person when shifts change would contribute to the wear and tear of the cameras, shortening their lifespan.
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