North Las Vegas Police Department Testing Dash and Body Cameras

In recent months, police car camera systems and body cameras have received a significant amount of public approval from civilians, lawmakers and government organizations. Now, many police departments are beginning to consider investing in body and dash cameras. After all, studies have shown that in car camera systems and other recording devices help improve officer safety and also allow police departments to review and critique their performance in dangerous situations, helping them improve their safety techniques. But despite these benefits, most communities seem to be focusing on either dash cameras or body cameras. The North Las Vegas Police Department is one exception to this trend: officers from this department are currently testing both dash cameras and body cameras, with plans to institute both. Currently, 72% of state police and highway patrol vehicles are equipped with video systems, and many municipalities are investing in the technology as well. However, the North Las Vegas Police Department plans to use dash cameras in conjunction with body cams, which they reason will give a more complete picture of each encounter. As a result, their officers are not only testing out the technology in general, but are actually testing different systems to determine which products work best for their price. Last month, the City Council heard the first update on these camera tests from Police Chief Joseph Chronister, who reported that the department has already experienced more civil interactions between officers and civilians, less complaints and fewer lawsuits. He also showed the council two video recordings from a police department in Texas: in the video from the dash camera, an officer is seen struggling with a suspect on the ground, while the body camera caught the suspect punching the officer in the face, causing the struggle. Chronister hopes this will help prove the benefits of having two camera systems at play. The major challenge of this planned innovation is the cost: the department estimates that upgrading every officer’s operating system could cost around $1.5 million, a high amount for a state and a city that still struggles with the consequences of the recession. For that reason, the police department says it plans to aggressively seek federal funding.