Vermillion Police Department implements use of body cameras

With a small battery pack attached to the hip and a wire snaking up to a camera on a pair of sunglasses, Vermillion police officers are now filming their encounters with the public.

Implemented in mid-July, the body cameras are worn by all on-duty Vermillion Police Department officers.

When VPD Chief Matt Betzen started to advocate for their integration into the department, he saw the body cameras as serving three major areas: preventing liabilities, dramatically helping with investigations and functioning as training tools.

Betzen said cases of police officers abusing their power around the country had little to do with the decision to purchase and implement the cameras.

“I have a high degree of faith that my officers are doing it right, because I spend a lot of time training them, I spend a lot of time reviewing what they do, so I, like a lot of professional agencies, am not afraid to put cameras on what we do,” he said.

Before this summer, recording video was only an option in the department’s patrol cars on dash cam cameras. Now all officers, including those on bikes and walking downtown, will record their shifts.

Bike and foot patrol officers are especially active during Dakota Days, VPD Lt. Luke Trowbridge said.

“It’s going to be really advantageous for us to have that video footage and audio recording when they have encounters on those units,” he said.

VPD gets a few complaints a year, and they rarely result in officer discipline, Betzen said. Previous complaints against officers during traffic stops resulted in exoneration of the officer after reviewal of the patrol car footage.

The department’s 19 body cameras cost approximately $22,000, Betzen said. The department also pays an annual fee for secure video storage.

Except for criminal cases, cases with identified special interest and cases involving complaints against officers, all footage is in a 60-day storage rotation.

Privacy versus safety 

The University of South Dakota Police Department has been using body cameras for about a year and a half, Lt. Jef Rice said in an email. Rice could not be reached for an interview with The Volante before publication, but an interview with him has been scheduled later this week.

Though sophomore Teagan McNary sees value in the body cameras, she said there could be some issues with their use.

“I’m conflicted. I think the idea of body cameras is really good, but it’s more the mechanical things that I have an issue with,” she said. “I definitely think a lot of things would have to be worked out in order for the program to run successfully. The issue of privacy is huge.”

Footage security is one of McNary’s main concerns, since she said there could be bystanders in the footage who were not involved in any crime or violation.

VPD’s video is stored with Taser International’s evidence.com, a site that stores video for law enforcement agencies all over the country, Betzen said.

“I think there’s a risk of security hacks anywhere, anytime with any kind of storage,” he said. “It’s as safe as I can make it in an environment where people are trying to get into these things.”

Sophomore Anna Madsen said she wouldn’t mind an officer filming his or her patrols.

“It just allows for more transparency within that whole conflict that goes on, whether it’s the police’s fault or the civilian’s fault,” she said. “It just allows for it to be firsthand evidence and doesn’t leave it to interpretation.”

Sophomore Chesney Garnos’s primary concern with the usage of body cameras is privacy, particularly when it comes to filming a group of intoxicated and possibly underage students.

“My question would be, are they going to be able to go back and charge that person since they have it on camera then? I don’t know if you can do that or not,” she said.

Madsen shared a similar concern, and said she’d have to learn more about existing restrictions before completely trusting their use.

“There’s not much education about what you can or can’t do with that evidence,” she said. “I really don’t know how they can use it.”

Betzen said an officer charging a minor for alcohol possession or consumption solely on video footage isn’t likely.

McNary said another potential drawback of the body cameras is officers’ ability to be more flexible.

“It almost takes away the element of police being able to use their own discretion, and I feel like that’s a really important part of policing,” she said. “That’s kind of what you’re taught and trained to do.”

Garnos said as long as video isn’t being recorded inappropriately, she’s all-right with officers utilizing the equipment.

“I feel like they use them already (around campus) so I don’t really see the harm in them having them on duty,” she said.

Trowbridge said the benefits of video are “endless.”

“It really adds to our evidence, as well as potential for litigation there,” Trowbridge said. “But it really, really benefits our evidence gathering.”

(Photo: Vermillion Police Department officer Isaac Voss shows how his body camera is connected to a battery pack on his waist. The actual camera is worn on the officer’s sunglasses. Malachi Petersen / The Volante)