The Athens County Sheriff’s Office ordered three new cars equipped with updated dashboard cameras.
Though dashboard cameras have become an point of concern during the past year, they’ve been missing in Athens County for more than a decade.
The Athens County Sheriff’s Office ordered three cars, all equipped with updated dashboard cameras — something local law enforcement hasn’t seen since unreliable VCR cameras were utilized, Capt. Bryan Cooper said.
Now the cameras operate with SD cards to record video digitally.
“It’s a tool,” Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith said. “Our thought process is to equip the cars as best we can. … The cameras will help improve with the way we do things.”
The new cars will not arrive or be put in service until next year, which is standard process, Cooper said.
The modifications or “tools,” as Smith likes to call them, range from computers to push bumpers.
Cooper said the in-car cameras were something the department wanted for a long time, but troublesome technology and budget restraints prevented them from doing so.
Cooper said the idea to purchase cameras was not met with any resistance from other officers.
“We felt that this is the professional and proper thing to do,” Cooper said.
Smith said the cameras would be a huge help to the department.
“We can make sure there is probable cause and discrepancy in a traffic stop," he said. "It is also a training tool. We can look back at the video of stops and reflect on ways to improve.”
That is not the first time cameras appeared in the police cars. Cameras were originally approved in the '90s for the sheriff’s office, as well as the Athens Police Department, and were used into the early 2000s before being removed.
“We used VCR tapes, which were a hassle,” Cooper said. “They didn’t respond well to heat. Sometimes the tape wouldn’t work. They just were not reliable. So we slowly phased them out.”
APD Chief Tom Pyle — whose department also removed its cameras — said APD is not looking to replace them in the near future.
“They often failed, … (were) expensive to maintain. … They were cumbersome,” Pyle said.
The cameras did help with cases involving a traffic violation, Pyle said.
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“We saw the biggest drawback was in court cases,” Pyle said. “If what was on video was even marginally questionable it exacerbated the case.”
Smith said he would eventually like to have cameras not just on every car, but also on every officer.
Though that is the plan, Smith said he doesn't expect the department to have body cameras in the near future, for the same reason it took time to get cameras in cars: They’re expensive.
Law enforcement is moving toward body cameras, Pyle said, but he added that it will be a while until his department has them.
Pyle said he doesn’t think the privacy concerns surrounding body cameras have been solved, making him hesitant to obtain them for APD.
The American Civil Liberties Union has some concerns with privacy issues, along with public record issues that are currently being solved, Pyle said.
“It’s presumed that officers should be recording all of their contact with the public,” Pyle said. “Some of those contacts may take place in private residences.”
Pyle said instances where his department is on a domestic violence call or a welfare check are very private situations.
“That information should not be available to the public,” Pyle said.
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