Put Video Recorders in Hudson Police Cars

I was downtown Hudson a few days ago, and found myself in conversation with a couple of officers.  They were telling me that they felt the city should be looking at ways to improve our police force, especially through training and updated equipment.  One of the things they mentioned was the installation of video cameras in patrol cars.

As we’ve probably all seen on television, recordings from in-car camera systems have long been admissible as evidence in court if the chain of custody has been preserved. Digital camera systems - and is there any other kind these days? - make this process easier and more secure, because footage is uploaded automatically to secure servers without requiring any action from officers, and access restricted to designated personnel responsible for property and evidence management.  In order words, no one gets to doctor the images.

 According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, 60% of police departments and 66% of sheriff's offices now use video cameras in their vehicles.

 No matter what your opinion may be of our police department, whether you feel it’s under-equipped or you feel it’s over-equipped, you might agree with something I discovered years ago working with power tools:  a good tool will pay for itself.  It will save you time and money, and will earn back its purchase price.  Basically, good equipment is a good idea.

The reason that video recording gear stood out in the conversation with our officers was that it seemed to me to have the potential of saving time and money, so I decided to check this out.  What I found was that dashcams (turns out that’s what they’re called) have many advantages, and one big disadvantage.

 The advantages include giving police officers sort of a quiet criticism of their work.  They can see how they comported themselves in traffic stops, they can measure how they dealt with safety issues and with people both sober and drunk.  Consequently, according to a 2002 survey of police chiefs, officers felt safer as they improved at their tasks.

The study also found that the cameras helped to resolve complaints of police misconduct.  In instances where the event was recorded, 96.2% of the officers were exonerated by the recording, and only 3.8% of the complaints were substantiated. Now, either outcome is probably a useful thing to know, as you keep the good officers and weed out the few that need it.  Supervisors who took part in this 2002 survey indicated that over half of the complaints made were actually “withdrawn once the complainant found that the incident had been recorded, saving time and money investigating unfounded complaints.”

Saving time and money, the hallmark of a good tool.  Probably a good idea for the Hudson Police Department.

I asked Chief Marty Jensen about this.  Just how much time did our officers spend in court, giving evidence or responding to complaints?  He told me it was 272 hours in 2010, and 230 hours in 2011.  That’s equivalent to one officer not being available five to seven weeks each year.  And a lot of money, because court time is overtime for police men and women. 

The mention of money brings us to the one disadvantage of dashcams. The companies who sell them quote outrageous prices, in the five to six thousand dollar range, per car.  Please let me be clear: it’s not the actual cost of the equipment that’s the disadvantage.  It’s the unrealistic price quote from the sellers that is the problem, and one that can, I believe, be dealt with if a city council is willing to work at it a little.  Here’s a hint:  slightly used police dashcams sell for under $200 per unit.  If you need help installing it, call a teenager.

Video cams in our police cars are at least worth investigating.  No pun intended.

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Editor's note: Scot O'Malley is running for mayor in the City of Hudson against Alan Burchill. The election is April 3, 2012.