Freeport police to get bodycams
Freeport police officers will soon sport new body cameras after the Town Council approved £154,260 toward new equipment from Motorola. The five-year package with Motorola, which includes 17 body cameras and eight new cruiser cameras, was unanimously approved by Freeport Town Council Tuesday, Sept.
17. The move was lauded by councilors and the police chief as a good step for the department.
“What we found over time — from a municipality standpoint and the longer I’m in the profession — there’s a lot of positives that come from videotaping interactions that the police have with the public,” Police Chief Nathaniel Goodman said Tuesday night. “I think it helps keep the officer grounded, it helps reinforce the positive training and the positive people they are, and I think it also allows oversight for the positive and good work that the officers are out there doing every day.” Goodman added that cameras allow for more oversight in the department, especially if concerns are raised by the public. He said that cameras can build trust with the community, protect officers and improve professionalism in police work.
Freeport police received a Department of Justice matching grant of £2,000 for each body camera, totaling £34,000, to help pay for the purchase. Town Manager Sophia Wilson said that the remaining funding would be pulled from the town’s capital reserve funds. “It’s an important tool that I think has become standard and is not inexpensive, but I think its an important investment both to protect our officers as well as our citizens,” said Town Councilor Eric Smith.
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The department received three bids for new cameras, Goodman said.
Motorola, which was the lowest of the three bids, was chosen for its factory and technical support as well as trade-in options. The chief added that the department will have unlimited access to a Motorola server, which meets electronic evidence storage standards. Freeport was one of the first departments in the state to adopt cruiser cameras in the mid-1990s.
Back when the cruiser program was implemented — through a company called WatchGuard, which is now owned by Motorola — Goodman said that they had to use VHS tapes mounted on the cruiser trunks. He joked that this initial rollout came with some obstacles, as the tapes would freeze in Maine winters. Aside from video, the cameras also track GPS position, the officer’s name, date and time.
Footage from cruiser and body cameras will be downloaded at the station when officers return from the field. Goodman said there are also ways to download the footage remotely if needed. Officers will also be able to “bookmark” certain interactions while in the field.
The footage from Freeport cruiser cameras is routinely submitted for operating under the influence investigations and is used as evidence in crimes ranging from misdemeanors to major felonies, according to Goodman. He added that the video evidence is generally accepted in Southern Maine courts. Freeport policy is to store footage for at least 90 days and then transfer to a different evidence server for storage of up to 20 years for bigger cases.
Lt.
Paul Powers said the cameras are being ordered for the 17-person department.
It could be a couple months before officers are wearing them out in the field, he said.
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