Smile: Pensacola Police Now Wearing Body Cameras

February 6, 2015

Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward announced Thursday that Pensacola Police officers would begin wearing body cameras as part of their regular duty gear.

“Pensacola is fortunate to have what I believe is one of the finest police departments in the country, but we are always looking for ways that we can be better,” Hayward said. “It’s important to me that we be transparent in everything we do as a city government, and I believe these cameras will reinforce public trust in our police department while safeguarding both our citizens and our police officers.”

The deployment of body cameras comes after nearly a year of planning, testing, and training by the Pensacola Police Department. The department has used in-car cameras for approximately 18 years, but until now, there has not been a way to capture on video any incidents which occur away from police vehicles. The new body cameras will be activated anytime an officer is conducting police business. Departmental policy will allow for officer discretion in order to protect the privacy of victims and witnesses.

“We have been looking at getting body cameras for some time,” said Chief Chip W. Simmons. “We believe this is another effort we can take to improve the quality of service we offer to the public.”

The police department purchased 55 body cameras and supporting software last fall with $95,000 from the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which includes money from seizures and forfeitures. Ten officers have been trained on how to use the cameras and were the first to use them on patrol Thrusday. Other officers will be trained over the next four months on the use of the remaining cameras.

“This gives us an opportunity to collect better, more complete evidence and believe it will also help in reducing complaints against officers,” said Sgt. Bruce Martin, video system administrator for the department.

The cameras measure about 1½ by 2½ inches, will be worn in the center of an officer’s chest, and are capable of continuously recording for approximately eight hours. Throughout their shifts, officers can download video from their vehicles to a server, and once the video is downloaded, the recording space becomes available again.

Stock photo.

Comments

8 Responses to “Smile: Pensacola Police Now Wearing Body Cameras”

  1. Matt A. on February 11th, 2015 2:28 am

    Matt, I suppose you pulled that information out of the clouds… LEO’s do NOT have to tell you they are recording you… EVER! So when you are “engaged” by a cop, don’t be surprised when they don’t inform you the camera is rolling.

  2. john on February 10th, 2015 6:34 am

    It’s generally those that have a mistrust of law enforcement, and the same that routinely brake the law in some way, or another that complain about police wearing body cameras, now police have to protect themselves legally,”look at the Michael Brown incident”. If a person has an issue with it, you can simply go online and buy one for yourself and record them, but beware you may incriminate yourself.

  3. Matt on February 9th, 2015 9:05 am

    @William

    Then they were misleading…

  4. jeeperman on February 9th, 2015 7:23 am

    The officers are to download the camera content to a server.
    Who has the ability to delete content?

  5. William on February 6th, 2015 6:28 pm

    >> I think the word “discretion” may have been a misleading term used by the editor of this page by accident.

    “Discretion” is the word used by the city in their press release.

  6. Matt on February 6th, 2015 1:18 pm

    @M:

    Actually, there are strict guidlines as to when an officer can and cannot turn these cameras off as well a digital log of when the camera was turned off and on will be include when they download the information back to HQ. Also, the police officers are required to tell the person they are engaging that they are being filmed. I think the word “discretion” may have been a misleading term used by the editor of this page by accident.

  7. Jessie Thomas on February 6th, 2015 9:33 am

    The mayor, city council members and county commissioners should all wear body cameras. This would certainly cut down on the corruption that has haunted this county in the past few years!

  8. M in Bratt on February 6th, 2015 7:15 am

    Just wondering how these cameras will “reduce citizen complaints” when the officers have the “discretion” to turn them off when they are doing something they are not supposed to be doing?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News