Body Cameras Distributed To All Anne Arundel County Police Officers

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — All Anne Arundel County Police Department officers now have body cameras. Authorities reached the milestone on Sept. 16. This followed a soft rollout over the past few months.

Between July 6 and Sept. 15, the cameras recorded 54,969 videos. That totaled 12,539 hours and 21,854 gigabytes, or 21.854 terabytes, of data. These videos included:

• 35,168 of regular calls for service
• 14,008 of traffic stops
• 4,118 of vehicle crashes and accident scenes
• 315 of miscellaneous resident contacts
• Others of training, testing and accidental activations that were not related to community interactions

Every officer now has two Axon Body 3 cameras to ensure they always have one charged for their shift. All four county police precincts installed camera docking stations. These mounts will charge the equipment and upload its videos to the department's storage system.

Police also updated their patrol cars to include wireless controls for the cameras. Anytime an officer turns on their emergency lights, their body camera will automatically start recording.

"We look forward to the implementation of the program in the coming months, which will enhance the trust and relationship between our community and our officers," Chief Amal Awad said in a press release announcing the reform on Feb. 19. "Our program will also allow us to continue our commitment to transparency, and lead us to the highest level of accountability to the community we serve."

Police explained that they hope the cameras accomplish these goals:

• "Strengthen police accountability
• "Promote de-escalation
• "Enhance the ability to resolve officer-involved incidents and complaints
• "Improve transparency
• "Identify and correct internal agency issues
• "Strengthen officer performance and safety
• "Increase community safety"

The money for the cameras was included in this year's county budget. The department has worked with County Executive Steuart Pittman to answer questions from the community.

General information is available at this link. The full body camera policy (IC 1904.4) is posted here. Residents can request a copy of a video using this form.

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