Herndon Police to Start Wearing Body Cameras Immediately

HERNDON, VA — Herndon police officers will start wearing body cameras beginning Thursday, Sept. 1 and continuing through November to evaluate their effectiveness before the department gives them to all officers, joining a nationwide trend of police departments providing body cameras to officers to record their interactions with citizens.

"During the program, the agency will equip several officers assigned to patrol and traffic enforcement sections of the department with body worn cameras that they will wear on their uniforms to capture audio and visual footage of police interactions," according to a statement from the Herndon Police Department. "Officers will be utilizing the cameras during calls for service, traffic stops, criminal investigations and other interactions with the public."

The program will involve Panasonic's Arbitrator camera system, which was chosen after an analysis of a number of body-worn cameras.

"The pilot program hopes to determine the effectiveness of the cameras in documenting events as they unfold, work out logistical issues with the equipment, fine tune deployment procedures, and field test the new agency policy for the equipment that ensures a respect for the privacy of the Herndon community," the statement adds.

Body cameras have become a hot topic in recent years as allegations of police brutality and racial profiling have increased.

During Herndon's pilot program, one of the three shifts will utilize the camera each day, with a different shift using the cameras on each of the three months of the program.

"The Herndon Police Department will seek the public’s input and comment prior to a full-scale implementation of body worn cameras for all members of the department, which is anticipated to occur during the first quarter of 2017," the statement adds.

Image of Panasonic Arbitrator via Panasonic