Texas-side police return body cameras

Majority of devices, paid for by community donations, have failed; department searching for new deal

The Texarkana Texas Police Department has temporarily suspended their body worn camera project due to the large number of technical issues and camera failures experienced.

All body worn cameras, which were originally purchased using donations from the community, have been returned to L-2 Mobile Vision. A full refund is expected to be made to the police department in the next two weeks, said Shawn Vaughn, spokesman for the TTPD.

The Police Department purchased fifty-three body worn cameras in August 2015 for $20,848, Vaughn said.

The purpose of the cameras is to document an officer’s actions on the streets and interaction with a suspect, potentially shedding light on an interaction and clearing the officer, or the suspect, of any accusations of wrongdoing.

L-3 Mobile Vision was selected as the vendor at that time based upon product reviews, a field demonstration period, and its compatibility with the existing mobile cameras installed in department patrol units.

Since the purchase date, a total of thirty-three cameras have failed.

We are very disappointed that the system did not live up to expectations, but we appreciate L3’s willingness to make it right. Despite the challenges that we’ve had over the last year, we

remain committed to the use of body worn cameras by our officers. As a matter of fact, the search for another system is already underway. We’ll put the refunded money in a separate account to be sure that it is used only for the purpose designated by those very generous donors last year,” said Chief Dan Shiner in a prepared statement.

Vaughn said the TTPD was interested in purchasing body camera even before the national push to do so but funding was the problem.

“However, some folks stepped forward and made it possible,” he said.

The cameras cost anywhere from $200 to $2,000 each.

An anonymous donation of $10,000 was made to the city in January 2015. The second donation came in Feburary when the Sadowski family, represented by Jason Sadowski, made a donation of an additional $10,000 for the purchase of the body cameras.