Dexter Police get new body cameras

After almost 30 years as a police officer, Dexter Police Chief Sammy Stone has seen the value in having a video record for police interaction with the public. It was with this value in mind that Stone decided to order body cameras a few months ago.

"I had put it in the budget already, at the end of the last fiscal year," Stone explained. "I got it on the budget on July 1."

Stone said that he had noticed the value of cameras for the past few years.

"When we first got the cameras installed in our cars, I was hesitant at first," Stone commented. "But those cameras have helped us so much more than anything else."

Stone explained the Dexter Police Department has had dashboard cameras in the police cruisers since at least the year 2000.

"I'd been doing research on body cameras for a while," Stone said. "Other departments that used them said their complaints had gone way down."

Stone said he believes that when the community, as well as police, know their interactions are being recorded, it heightens the sense of accountability for everyone.

"When people know they're being recorded, they tend to be a little easier to get along with," Stone remarked. "And my officers know they're being recorded, so they know there will always be a record of what they do."

According to Stone, the Dexter Police Department has an extensive database of video footage just from the police cruiser video.

"It takes up a lot of memory, and we keep the footage on file for a long while," Stone said.

The body cameras arrived a little more than a week ago and Dexter Police Sergeant Joshua Benton has been testing the equipment since.

"It's really easy to set up and use," Benton explained. "It just clips on the front of the uniform and turns on with the push of a button. The only thing that takes any kind of time is adjusting the location of the camera for the field of view."

Each camera has the ability to record in both bright and dark conditions, and each one has a date and time stamp for the recording.

"Essentially, when an officer begins an interaction with a citizen, they'll activate the camera so everything will be recorded," Benton said.

"That will be in addition to the vehicle video," Stone added. "So we'll have video from both the officers and the cars."

Stone said he felt it was important to think ahead concerning the cameras, and knew he would be making the purchase eventually.

"It just so happens that I got them in the budget at the very beginning of July, which is before everything happened in Ferguson," Stone said in reference to the police shooting of 18 year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. "If anything, that shows just how important these cameras are, so everything can get recorded and there can be a record of what happened."

Stone explained that the videos on file at the department have served to show his officers acting in a professional manner whenever someone has had a complaint.

Benton said he is almost finished testing the cameras and will soon be drafting a standard operating procedure for them.

"We're not exactly sure when every officer will be wearing them," Benton said. "But it will be soon. It won't take much longer."