Axon body camera (Photo courtesy Axon)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — The Green Bay Police Department has received nearly 200 body cameras, but it turns out, there is a lot to do before every patrol officer gets a body camera.
“Right now what we’re doing is building the infrastructure,” Smith told WTAQ’s ‘The Morning News with Matt and Earl’. “We have to have all the racks built, we have to have all the charging systems built, we have to have all the downloading systems built.”
It requires a lot of data storage. All files must be kept for a short period of time, and any footage with evidentiary value must be kept even longer. Some footage, such as evidence in murder cases, will likely have to be kept forever.
The body cameras will be worn on the officers chests, and police will be trained to activate them during interactions with the public. They’ll automatically be activated by a sensor if the officer draws a weapon.
“The good news is that we have our SWAT team that’s been outfitted with the cameras,” Smith said. “So we have about 20 officers that have already been trained. They know how to do it, they were trained last summer.”
Smith says the cameras will create additional transparency and training opportunities for officers. It’s likely police won’t be fully outfitted with body cameras until April.
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