Bloomfield Police increase use of body cameras

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — By the end of this week, Bloomfield Police Director Sam DeMaio said there will be 22 body cameras in use by his police officers. The devices are less than one-half the size of a pack of cigarettes and record both video and audio. They will not be issued to individual officers; they will only be issued when an officer is deployed to uniformed patrol, traffic detail or anti-crime assignments. The device will be clipped to the bulletproof vest, shirt pocket or shoulder epaulette.

“Investigative detectives and officers at construction sites will not be issued body cameras,” DeMaio said earlier this week in his office. “Officers at construction sites are working off-duty.”

Glancing at a monitor in his office, he said that at that moment nine patrol officers, two anti-crime officers, and seven traffic officers, all on duty, were wearing body cameras.

DeMaio said the camera system the BFD is using gives him the ability to view what the camera is recording as it is happening. A possible reason he gave to “tap into a body camera” would be during of an active-shooter situation.

However, he pointed out that the use of a body camera is governed by rules promulgated by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office. A police officer cannot, DeMaio said, use a body camera to make a recording when the device is not attached to the officer’s body, meaning a body camera cannot be secreted away to make a recording. But a police officer wearing a body camera is not required to notify anyone that they are being recorded.

“When taking an official police action, the camera has to be on,” DeMaio said. “It’s clipped to the epaulette or the bulletproof vest. It’s a high-definition, color video with built-in lighting resolution and high definition audio, too.”

The camera is activated with a flick of a tiny switch. This is done just before an officer is about to take a police action. If the officer is in a patrol car, the dashboard camera is automatically activated when the flashing pursuit lights are turned on “We had one body camera in a vehicle pursuit,” DeMaio said. “From the patrol car camera, all you saw was the back of the car being chased.”

DeMaio said the body camera allowed the viewer to see the officer running to make the apprehension of the suspect.

Criminal pursuits aside, DeMaio said the cameras are great training tools.
“It shows how the officers are interacting with the public,” he said.

Officer Jonathan Donker wears his on his shirt pocket. He said, because he is tall, if he wore it on his epaulette, the camera would probably be recording over a person’s head. Donker notifies anyone he is recording.

“I always say, ‘Good afternoon, this is being recorded.’ People tend to be a lot more friendlier when they know.”

Donker said the recording can be reviewed by an officer and this can help in writing an incident report.

“The camera battery lasts for 2 1/2 hours,” he said. “I’ve never run out yet.”
The 22 camera cost $18,000, with $10,000 coming from an OAG grant and the township paying the balance. If the township does not receive a grant for more body cameras, DeMaio said it will be an item in the 2017 budget.

Demaio said his goal is to have a camera available for every officer. This will include a newly formed BPD Swat team which will shortly be entering a two-week tactical operations course. The team will require eight additional cameras.

He said the recordings, unless being saved for an investigation or an open criminal case, will be retained for 90 days. The Internal Affairs Division makes random, daily reviews of the recordings. However, if there is a complaint against an officer, the review is done immediately.

Mayor Michael Venezia, in a telephone interview, said the body cameras will protect both residents and police officers.

“Everything will be documented, Venezia said. “It shows how the police department has adapted to the 21st century.”

Recordings on police body cameras, DeMaio said, are obtainable through the Open Public Records Act.