Bodyworn cams now countywide

If you get in trouble with the law, make sure you smile. You’ll be on camera.

All members of the Andalusia and Opp police departments completed training in the use body worn cameras this week, and as of today, will have them completely deployed in the field.

Members of the two departments join the Covington County Sheriff’s Department and the Florala Police Department in the use of the cameras.

“The response has been good,” Hudson said. “Everybody understands the cameras are a safeguard for them as far as false allegations go.”

Police and animal control officers spent the first part of the training learning about the use of the cameras, which are on and in standby mode when an officer is on duty. If he or she gets out of their patrol car at a scene, they press the record button to capture everything that happens, the chief explained.

Even if nothing goes wrong, Hudson said, the video evidence can help establish for trial what an officer saw upon arriving at a scene.

The second portion of the training involved policies and procedures for the use. The digital recordings must be uploaded by the end of every shift, Hudson said.

Officers cannot edit the videos, he said, but they can tag certain scenes, or add case numbers as they complete reports.

The digital media evidence false into the same rules for evidence, as far as chain of custody goes, he said.

A year ago, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded Andalusia an $87,224 grant for the Covington County Law Enforcement Agencies Collaborative, which included APD, the Opp Police Department, and the Covington County Sheriff’s Department. The award initially covered the purchase of 81 body worn cameras for all area law enforcement personnel. In June 2016, Sheriff Dennis Meeks chose to remove his department from the grant and purchase cameras for their department. Andalusia and Opp Police Departments were able to secure additional equipment with the monies that remained.

DEPUTIES GET BODY CAMERAS

All uniformed personnel from the Andalusia and Opp departments are outfitted with a Coban Echo. These cameras have 115-degree field of view, low light video capability, are water resistant and are made to military specifications for durability. In addition to the purchase of the camera systems, the departments were outfitted with two servers (one per department, with 32 terabytes of storage), docking stations for uploading video evidence and additional cameras for each department so that no officer goes without his or camera.

Hudson said that since October 2015, the Covington County LEA Advisory Council, comprised of area law enforcement representatives, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and community leaders, have worked to develop policies for the use of the cameras. A Justice Department technical assistance team approved that policy in June.

Hudson said the council developed policies to improve transparency between officers and the public; established privacy policies; and implement the use of the cameras.