Police In Middletown To Wear Body Cameras

Some Middletown, Howell and Wall police officers will began wearing body cameras as part of a pilot program in Monmouth County.

Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni held a news conference Thursday morning to announce details of the pilot project, which, if successful, could be deployed throughout the county.

According to a news release, posted on the Prosecutor’s Office Facebook page:

The Middletown, Howell, and Wall police departments have been chosen to participate in the pilot project because of their geography, population and the compatibility of the body cameras with their vehicle-mounted cameras.

The body cameras will be purchased with funds from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Law Enforcement Trust Account (CLETA), and the Prosecutor’s Office will oversee the program to evaluate the “operability and feasibility of police officer body-worn cameras.”

“We cannot ignore the current challenges for police officers in the 21st century. Body-worn cameras have the potential to benefit everyone in the community. This pilot program will test that potential at no expense to taxpayers because our Office is using the illegally obtained proceeds of criminals and their criminal networks and turning that ill-gotten money into something good for the whole community,” Gramiccioni said in a prepared statement.

About a quarter of police departments nationwide are using body-worn cameras (BWC), according to a Police Executive Research Forum survey.

Gramiccioni said the cameras will help police “continue to maintain and build credibility and integrity with the public.”

He also listed other potential benefits of those cameras:

• may provide additional evidence in criminal investigations
• may enhance the safety of officers and the public
• may aid in Internal Affairs reviews of complaints against officers
• may be used as a training tool

Select officers will wear the weatherproof, 5.3-ounce cameras as part of their daily routine. The cameras offer nine hours of high-definition recording and police will active them “to record all calls for service, motor vehicle stops, field interviews, investigative detentions, sobriety checkpoints and for any other incident at the officer’s discretion.”

“Law enforcement officers will activate their BWC prior to arrival at the scene of a dispatched call for service and officers should activate their BWC for a proactive event prior to initiation of the event or as soon as safely possible. This will allow the maximum amount of information regarding the incident to be captured,” Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Chief of Detectives Michael Pasterchick said in a prepared statement.

Howell police have already started wearing the cameras. Middletown and Wall officers are expected to begin participating in the program next week.

“Police chiefs across the county are anxious to see the results of this pilot program and how the cameras can enhance our community policing activities,” Avon Police Chief Terrence Mahon, the president of the Monmouth County Police Chief’s Association, said in a prepared statement.

Photo via Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Facebook page