Brick Police To Get Body-Worn Cameras

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township patrol officers will be outfitted with body cameras, thanks to a grant from the federal Justice Department.

The Brick Township Council approved a resolution to add the $112,500 grant to the budget during Tuesday's council meeting.

Body-worn cameras are growing in use by police departments across the country, seen as a way to help promote transparency in interactions between police and civilians.

The Brick Township grant was part of $20 million in grants announced by the Department of Justice in September, where more than 100 towns with police forces of more than 25 officers received funding. The township has 132 patrol officers currently, Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said.

"The awards, funded under the Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Fiscal Year 2016 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program, will help law enforcement organizations implement body-worn camera policies, practices and evaluation methods to make a positive impact on the quality of policing in individual communities," the Justice Department said in announcing the grants.

“As we strive to support local leaders and law enforcement officials in their work to protect their communities, we are mindful that effective public safety requires more than arrests and prosecutions,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in the announcement. “It also requires winning – and keeping – the trust and confidence of the citizens we serve. These grants will help more than 100 law enforcement agencies promote transparency and ensure accountability, clearing the way for the closer cooperation between residents and officers that is so vital to public safety.”

The use of body-worn cameras has been part of the national debate over police-involved shootings. Brick Township officers have been involved in a handful of shootings in the last 15 years, including the fatal shooting of Julian Hoffman in August 2015.

In that instance, the use of deadly force was ruled as justifiable by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, which said Hoffman had what appeared to be a gun in his hand when he answered the door after calling 911 to report he was ”raising hell.” The handgun was a BB gun, which Hoffman refused to drop, according to the statement.

There was a lengthy attempt to retrieve video from a home security system belonging to Hoffman’s father, none was able to retrieved because it had been overwritten, the prosecutor's office said.

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