Santa Fe police to begin issuing body cameras

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe Police Department, about a year later than initially expected, will begin issuing body cameras to many officers by the end of August, the SFPD said in a news release late Friday. The cameras will be distributed to patrol, traffic, bicycle, DWI and animal services officers.

“The recording equipment will be a valuable law enforcement tool to aid in the prosecution of criminal cases, to enhance the accuracy of officers’ reports and testimony in court,” the SFPD statement reads. They “will also help build community trust in the Department’s officers by recording interaction between citizens and our Officers,” the department said.

Former Police Chief Eric Garcia expected to have the body-cams by August 2015. Current Chief Patrick Gallagher told the Journal in the spring he hoped to have 90 cameras ordered from Kansas-based Digital Ally in use by July. Information provided previously by city government was that the cameras and two docking stations for around $83,000, with some federal grant dollars involved.

The SFPD statement said the body-cams “will only be activated in conjunction with law enforcement duties including traffic stops, investigative detentions, arrests, searches, pursuits and interrogations.” The cameras “will be worn forward facing on the officer’s chest and will be activated as soon as practical when responding to a call for service.”