By Marcus Green
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) –
Louisville police have started a new search for a company to outfit officers
with body cameras, slowing down an effort already behind the department's
self-imposed schedule.
Police officials told WDRB News
in August that a goal of deploying cameras by July 1 wasn't met because of
concerns about data storage, but that the department intended to purchase
officer-worn cameras manufactured by Taser, as recommended in a 2013 internal
report.
However, police issued a new
“request for information” earlier this month from firms interested in providing
the cameras.
"I think we're doing what
we need to be doing in terms of due diligence, to make sure we get the right
camera system for our department," Chief Steve Conrad said Tuesday in an
interview at the city's Real Time Crime Center, which monitors more than 80
cameras across Metro Louisville.
Conrad's remarks came hours
before officers shot and killed a man who had fired at police after a traffic
stop in the Valley Station area, according to LMPD's account.
“I wish that we had had the
cameras at Waterfront Park before (the) March 22 (incidents of youth violence).
I wish we had had the Real Time Crime Center before that. I truly wish we had
all of our officers equipped with cameras today," Conrad said. "But
we've got to make sure we're taking the proper steps. I want to make sure we do
it right. I want to make sure we're good stewards of the taxpayers' money.”
Mayor Greg Fischer, in an
interview before Tuesday night's shooting, said adding body cameras is a
"really good thing."
“Clearly it's a trend that's
happening all over the country and we look forward to being part of it
too," Fischer said.
“Whether they're high-profile
cases or not, the justice system needs to know what happened for the protection
of the citizens and for the protection of the police officer," he said.
Maj. Robert Schroeder of LMPD's
administrative services division said Taser remains the front-runner to provide
body-worn cameras that follow an officer's field of vision, but LMPD could
solicit a round of bids from manufacturers depending on the responses due
Friday.
The department didn't meet a
July 1 goal for one-fourth of patrol officers to start wearing the cameras,
delaying the rollout because of concerns over storage costs of up to $1 million
a year on a "cloud" system. The department's patrol officers, which
currently number about 900, would wear the cameras.
LMPD now is seeking bids from
vendors for a system managing footage from body cameras, as well as “storage,
retrieval, documentation and management of digital video, images, voice
recordings and other digital evidence." Such evidence includes recordings
from in-car cameras and stationary security cameras; emails and text messages;
information from private computers; and scanned documents, according to a
request for proposal issued Oct. 15.
Bids are to be opened Nov. 5.
Louisville would be the largest
police department in Kentucky to start using body cameras. At least eight
police and sheriff's agencies in the state already deploy the technology,
although policies vary widely. In the Louisville area, police in suburban
Jeffersontown and Jeffersonville, Ind., are pursuing camera systems.
Officers in LMPD's Fifth
Division – an area that includes the Highlands – would wear the first body
cameras, according to police. Drug forfeiture funds are expected to pay for the
program.
Police had previously said they
expected the cameras to be in use by late 2014 or early 2015. Schroeder said
that timeline has been pushed back slightly.
“We'd hope to get something
within six months, but you never know these things turn out,” he said.
