Body-Worn Camera Grant - New Berlin (WI) Police Department

Body-Worn Camera Grant Abstract-New Berlin (WI) Police Department

     The New Berlin Police Department would like to purchase and deploy fifty (50) body-worn cameras to its patrol officers.  We currently do not have body cameras or dash cameras.  If purchased, all our officers who have regular patrol duties and contact with the public will be required to wear the cameras. 

     Those who will benefit from the cameras include our officers and persons living in, working in, or traveling through our city of 40,000 residents.  The City of New Berlin covers 37 square miles and is located in Eastern Waukesha County (population of just over 400,000.)  On the east, we border Milwaukee County, with a population of approximately 950,000.  Much of the crime committed in our city is committed by residents of Milwaukee County.  We are the only police department serving the City of New Berlin.  The benefits from implementing these cameras include:

Assisting in incident documentation
Ensuring our department will conform with any current or future state and federal mandates
Use of Force justification
Suspect admissions
Injury documentation
Evidence storage system
Improving police procedures and training
Officer safety
Protecting officers against false complaints

     Our chief has formed a body camera committee within our department, and they have been in place since July, 2020.  That committee’s duties included:

Creating a department policy for body-worn cameras, which is already in place
Testing and evaluating different camera vendors (we have selected Axon)
Formulating a proposed budget for the initial purchase of the cameras, plus the ongoing expenses of records management, redaction, data storage and other ongoing expenses
Presenting our proposal to the New Berlin Common Council for their budgetary support in the initial purchase and ongoing annual expenses of the program

We strongly believe that the purchase and implementation of these body-worn cameras will help us fulfill our departments’ Mission Statement, “To protect the lives and property of the people we serve and prevent crime through partnership with the community.”