SAN ANGELO,TX – The San Angelo Police Department's in car video system is outdated and Chief Frank Carter presented a plan to the San Angelo City Council Wednesday morning to replace the 110 cameras and add body cameras for all police officers.
SAPD Sgt. Travis Griffith detailed the plan which has been in underway for four years. Griffith told council members the SAPD has been purchasing parts on Ebay to keep the current in car camera system working.
Griffith says the department has decided to replace the in car camera system and add body cams and tasers. The SAPD has an estimate of about $1.6 million for the project.
According to information presented to the city council, the plan calls for body worn cameras to be issued to officers who have direct contact with the public and would bring about a higher level of transparency with the public which increases community confidence in police and public interactions.
The body worn cameras will also aid in the streamlined proper classification of video evidence and expedite the fuilfillment of video requests by the courts and the public.
Body camera evidence is also useful with reluctant witnesses such as domestic violence cases.
Griffith says departments with body cameras tend to have lower rates of use of force incidents and a reduction of internal and external complaints against officers.
Body worn cameras allow for better supervision of officers for training and discipline purposes.
"We do this job because we care." Said Griffith. "Other cities have seen a reduction in officer complaints and an increase in conviction rates with body cameras."
Wednesday morning's presentation was for information only. The city council is expected to vote to go out for bids for body cameras and in car video systems at their next meeting on Sept. 17.
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Comments
Doesn't the Parks Department deserve new mowers and Yeti Cups?
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PermalinkAre you really that naive?! Do you not feel that our excellent police officers don’t deserve body cameras for their own protection? I thought they already had body cameras. For you to compare necessary police equipment to mowers & Yeti cups, just proves your lack of brain power!
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PermalinkDerwin, (sic), OBH consistently practices sarcastic humor. Our world would benefit if folks just chuckled a little instead of getting offended at every little thing.......
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PermalinkThanks for coming to my aid Cajun Texan. Yes the department needs the body cameras. My statement was a dig at the thinking of our city leaders. The Parks Department is the largest department and has the largest budget. The PD on the other hand has half of the detectives per capata than any West Texas city and the officers have to work moral breaking 12 hour shifts because their are too few of them. Yeti Cups are a joke but are more likly to come from the surplus than the body cameras.
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PermalinkOld Buffalo Hunter, I apologize, as I didn’t realize you were joking. I had no idea that the Parks Dept had a larger budget than the SAPD! WTH is wrong with this city?? Parks are nice, but trained, competent police officers are a necessity. Apparently the city manager & council have this process all backwards. Perhaps we should give them all a Chinese Yeti cup knockoffs as a parting gift along with a swift kick. Again, sorry for jumping on you, I hear some crazy crap out of a lot of people now & I assumed you were one of them. We are both on the same side.
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