Body Worn Camera Program Enhancement

Body Worn Camera Program – Program Enhancement

The City of Schenectady New York Police Department applied to the BJA in 2017 for grant funding to assist in the implementation of its new Body Worn Camera Program.  The grant was awarded to the Department and the Body Worn Program was implemented with the initial rollout beginning in February 2019. For the past 2 ½ years, the program has run successfully through proper training and program management. The Department maintains its own storage servers, Wi-Fi and related network infrastructure equipment and all other equipment associated with the program. It also maintains all hardware and software programs and components related to the Body Worn Camera Program with assigned daily in-house employee oversight.  A total of 122 body worn cameras were issued to patrol officers and patrol supervisors at full implementation and all 122 body worn cameras are being utilized. The Schenectady Police Department is now eager to expand the Body Worn Camera Program allowing all employees with anticipated routine public contact, such as, Detectives, Animal Control Officers and Parking Enforcement Officers to be outfitted with their own personally assigned Body Worn Camera. Since the initial rollout of the Body Worn Camera Program, the Department has seen an increase in trust from the community it serves and a reduction in frivolous complainants. The cameras have also supplied the local District Attorney’s Office with valuable supporting evidence and have also assisted in several high-profile incidents. Videos obtained from the cameras are also being used by the Department’s Training Division as a successful training aid. The Schenectady Police Department believes that the expansion of the Body Worn Camera Program to include all employees with public interact will continue to build integrity in the Department as well as better police community relations in the future.