Police roll out new body cameras
COLUMBUS — Most Columbus Division of Police patrol officers by now have received their new replacement body cameras, which among other improvements over their old cameras allows for video and audio to be captured for the two minutes before the camera is activated.
The division has issued 1,152, or 64%, of the 1,804 cameras it plans to issue by the end of the year, said Officer Robert Leyton, who works in the division’s technology unit.
Axon Enterprise is providing a total 2,105 body cameras plus another 75 body cameras that can be mounted on specialty tactical gear such as worn by SWAT officers. The remaining cameras will be used by recruits and serve as backups if others break.
Layton said most, if not all patrol vehicles now have one of the 450 vehicle cameras equipped with license plate readers that Axion is also providing.
He said the division already has vehicle cameras equipped with license plate readers, but never this many or as efficient as the new ones.
“Our previous license plate reader system …we only had 20 of the devices, each precinct had one device,” Leyton said. “It was kind of slow, it was not user-friendly. It wasn’t easy to use.”
Leyton said the new license plate readers scan for vehicles reported stolen, or those involved in Amber Alerts. Officers can’t see personal information about a vehicle or its owner when plates are read, he said.
“This is a great tool that we’ve already used to recover dozens of stolen vehicles in the several weeks we’ve had it,” Leyton added.
As a result of the contract reached in 2021 between the city and Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, the new body cameras will use Bluetooth technology to automatically activate when an officer’s weapon is removed from a utility belt, a cruiser’s lights or sirens are turned on, a rifle or shotgun rack is released, a cruiser accelerates to a high speed, or a cruiser is involved in a crash.
The Axon technology also allows for video and audio to be captured for the two minutes before the cameras are activated. The current body cameras worn by police, which date back to 2016, store the previous minute before cameras are turned on but not audio.
In addition, the body cameras can recall video up to 18 hours following an incident, while the in-vehicle cameras can recall video up to 24 hours.
Axon’s contract could run up to five years and cost taxpayers nearly $19 million.
The Arizona-based Axon, formerly known as Taser International, is providing unlimited cloud storage for all that video. City officials say Columbus is the first U.S. jurisdiction to negotiate unlimited cloud storage.
Leyton said video footage uploaded to the cloud is stored for a minimum of two years. He also said the division is working on wireless upload, something residents have said they want.
Robert Clark, the city’s public safety director, said the new technology will increase transparency within the division.
In January 2021, Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther announced body cameras would be upgraded a month after Andre Hill, 47, an unarmed Black man, was shot and killed by since-fired Columbus police officer Adam Coy. His body camera was not activated at the time of the shooting.
Coy is charged with murder, reckless homicide, felonious assault and dereliction of duty. The city paid $10 million to Hill’s family in a civil settlement.