South Windsor Police Receive Donation of Body Worn Cameras

The South Windsor Police Department officially accepted the donation of body worn cameras from South Windsor-based Hartford-Evergreen Lodge #88 of Freemasons in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

The department has been investigating the acquisition and purchase of body worn cameras for more than a year. The cost of the technology has been a prohibitive hurdle with the department’s limited equipment budget but the project is now moving forward due to the generosity the local fraternal organization.

Read more from the press release below:

Members of the South Windsor-based Hartford-Evergreen Lodge of Freemasons approached the police department about making a donation for programs and equipment. The Masonic Lodge does philanthropic works in the community and previously donated a pool table to the South Windsor Teen Center. The police department proposed that the Masonic Lodge make the initial purchase of the Taser Axon cameras, and the department would budget for the ongoing maintenance and data storage costs.

Thanks to the generosity of the Hartford-Evergreen Lodge #88 of Freemasons the South Windsor Police will now obtain an initial supply of 12 body worn cameras and a docking station that both recharges and downloads the data to “cloud” storage.

The body worn cameras will record officers’ interactions with the public and document those police encounters, capturing both audio and video evidence. The cameras record audio/video data at levels that approximate the same clarity and perception of the human eye and ear.

We believe that the cameras will be a great tool to document interactions, protect the public and officers from false claims, and capture the professional service that our agency offers.

About Hartford Evergreen Lodge #88 of Freemasons:

Freemasonry is the world’s oldest and largest fraternity. It is comprised of adult men of good character from every country, religion, race, age, income, education, and opinion, who believe in a Supreme Being. Its body of knowledge and system of ethics is based on the belief that each man has a responsibility to improve himself while being devoted to his family, faith, country, and fraternity.

Freemasonry (often simplified to “Masonry”) enhances and strengthens the character of the individual man by providing opportunities for fellowship, charity, education, and leadership based on the three ancient Masonic tenets: Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. Freemasonry continually strives to “make good men better.”

Image via Chief Reed on Twitter