Body-Worn Camera Replacement and Program Expansion

Kanas Department of Wildlife and Parks (“KDWP”) is a state agency charged with management and conservation of Kansas’ natural resources. The Department serves every citizen and location in the state. The agency has three Divisions with sworn law enforcement personnel – LE, PK, and PL.  LE has utilized BWC since 2016, but its complement of cameras are reaching their end of life span.  PK and PL have not yet implemented BWC programs and intend to do so pursuant to this grant application.  This application also seeks to correct a deficiency in the Department’s Digital Evidence Management system which is, at this time, relegated to downloading BWC footage to physical media for local storage.

The project is designed to be conducted over four phases, including: Product Research and Field Evaluation; Policy Development; Purchase and Implementation; and Evaluation, Data Analysis and Reporting.  Policy development will drive the process which will replace 61 BWC and provide 110 additional BWC to equip all sworn law enforcement personnel in the Department.

By ensuring all sworn personnel our outfitted with BWC, we expect benefits from the project include improved transparency to the public.  In addition, by implementing a current, centralized digital evidence management system, we expect to improve the processes related to transferring media from cameras, setting retention standards, and indexing and management of digital evidence.  We believe that these reforms will as well lead to improve prosecution outcomes for county, district, and US attorney’s offices.

The Department currently has in place the administrative and technical personnel necessary to ensure effective implementation of the project plan and success in achievement of stated outcomes.  Moreover, the project plan details criteria and methodology for setting performance measures and evaluating impacts of project deliverables.