Studies show the majority of Americans, including police officers, are asking for body cameras to be implemented. The Baton Rouge Police Department is now answering this call and will be taking part in a 10-month pilot program for these body cameras.
“We spent a total of $105,000 on 100 cameras that are going to First District,” explained Deon Sumer, BRPD Public Relations Department Intern and LSU Student. “We are going to take the information we get from First District, make some tweaks and changes and move to other districts to better the program.”
This camera system will work alongside the department’s dash-cam program that began in 2007. The batteries within the camera can hold five hours of footage, meaning an officer needs only to hit record when that officer interacts with members of the public.
The concern for many departments, like the LSU Police Department, is whether or not they can afford the cameras, data storage and all the other parts that come with this system.
“We do anticipate at some point that it will probably be mandatory for all police departments, and that would obviously include us,” said LSU Police Department Captain Cory Lalonde. “However, at this time, you know we’re not seeing the number of those types of incident where it would make it a necessity for us at this time.”
Despite the many positives that come with cameras, there are things that the footage may not show.
“While it does capture a lot of what happened and it is a useful tool, there are some instances that you can look at that it doesn’t necessarily always show the whole story,” said Lalonde.
The addition of these cameras to Baton Rouge Police Department did not come about in response to anything other than the fact that other departments have begun to do this as well.
“Luckily enough, Baton Rouge hasn’t really had a huge problem lately in light of other events,” said Sumer. “We’ve been very fortunate in that. So, we’re just trying to stay on the proactive route.”
After this 10-month program, the BRPD will decide whether or not they will purchase the nearly 400 cameras to equip the remaining Baton Rouge Police Officers.