Police to add body cameras

FRANCONIA >> The order isn’t officially placed yet, but Franconia Township Police Department is planning to add body cameras.

The department currently has in-car cameras, but not body cameras.

The body cameras will be the same brand, Watch Guard, as the in-car cameras, so there will be an integrated system, Police Chief Michael Martin said at the April 19 Franconia Township Board of Supervisors meeting.

Board Chairman Grey Godshall asked if additional training will be needed by the officers.

“Does something change

how they perform their job now if everything’s on camera or do you just slap it on and go?” Godshall asked.

“Slap it on and go. In all honesty, their training is their training whether they’re being videotaped or not,” Martin said.

The department’s officers want body cams, he said.

“I think the general consensus of the public is that, oh, the police don’t want body cameras,” he said. “They have helped police officers a heck of a lot more than they’ve hurt them.”

Board member Robert Nice asked the pluses and minuses of body cams.

“The biggest plus is protecting police officers and townships from false accusations, just like the in-car cameras,” Martin said. “The biggest downfall is storage. They’re storage intensive.”

The video from the incar cameras currently is stored on a township server, but both the in-car and body cameras will be stored in a secure cloud service, he said.

The department is planning to buy 12 body cameras, Martin said. A little more than a year ago, he was given a price quote of $23,395, he said.

He will now get a new price quote before placing the order, he said.

Board members said they expect to approve the purchase once the price is set.

“I don’t know how you not do it in this day and age,” Godshall said.

In another police-related matter, the board approved the purchase of a new patrol car.

“The car that we’re going to replace this year is a 2014 Dodge with 119,000 miles on it,” Martin said.

In answer to a question about the possibility that it could be difficult to get a new vehicle because of computer chip shortages, he said that won’t be a problem.

“We do have one that’s being held for us. It’s a 2020 and it’s on the lot,” Martin said.

The new vehicle will be a Ford Police Interceptor, he said.

The car will be purchased with a four-year lease/purchase, Township Manager Jon Hammer said.

“The first payment would be deferred for six months and it would cost approximately $6,100 in semi-annual payments,” he said.

The board also approved a $224,975 contract with Hirschberg Mechanical to replace the heating and cooling systems in the police station.

“The biggest plus is protecting police officers and townships from false accusations.” — Police Chief Michael Martin