Berkeley Heights to get Body Cameras for Officers

Berkeley Heights, NJ -- Berkeley Heights and New Providence are two out of 176 across New Jersey police departments to receive body-worn cameras for their officers from the NJ Attorney General’s Office.

The $2.5 million in awards – made with criminal forfeiture funds – will support purchases of more than 5,000 body cameras and will put New Jersey in the forefront in the U.S in embracing this technology to promote transparency, mutual accountability, and trust between police and the community, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said today at a press conference at Rutger’s University, Busch Campus in Piscataway.

Berkeley Heights will receive 15 cameras, worth $7,500 and New Providence will receive 24, worth $12,000. Other Union County police departments included:

• Clark will receive 20 cameras worth $10,000;
• Fanwood will receive 14 cameras worth $7,000;
• Garwood will receive 14 cameras worth $7,000;
• Rahway will receive 60 cameras worth $30,000;
• Roselle Park will receive 32 cameras worth $16,000;
• Springfield will receive 16 cameras worth $8,000;
• Union County Police will receive 55 cameras worth $27,500
• Elizabeth will receive 250 cameras worth $125,000;
• Linden will receive 95 cameras worth $47,500;
• Mountainside will receive 18 cameras worth $9,000;
• Plainfield will receive 92 cameras worth $46,000
• Scotch Plains will receive 35 cameras worth $17,500;
• and Union County Sheriff will receive 13 cameras worth $6,500.

Local police agencies were able to apply for the funds through the county prosecutors. Most of the agencies received funding for all of the body cameras they requested. A full list of the awards by agency is posted at www.njpublicsafety.com.

Along with local police, state police received the first 100 body cameras out of approximately 1,000 that will be phased in over the coming months. The first 100 cameras, worth $1.5 million, are being used for testing and to develop protocols and training, in preparation for the rollout of body-worn cameras on patrol.

The new cameras will complement the mounted cameras in every patrol vehicle, which have been used by the State Police for the past 16 years.

“We clearly are leading the nation when it comes to our efforts in New Jersey to deploy body-worn cameras to promote transparency and mutual accountability of police and civilians,” said Hoffman. “The overwhelming response we received from law enforcement to our offer of funding demonstrates that police officers are embracing this technology to protect themselves, assist them in their work, and foster stronger police-community relations.”

Hoffman also issued a statewide policy designed to promote best practices and uniformity in using the devices.

The new policy – which guides police departments statewide that decide to deploy body cameras – establishes foundational requirements while allowing individual police departments to tailor policies to local needs.

To see the Attorney General’s Directive on Body Cameras visit http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/2015-1_BWC.pdf

(Photos, NJ Attorney General)