In this age of technology where everyone seems to own a smartphone and/or tablet, the pressure is on police departments to also remain technologically advanced. Whenever a critical event occurs, be it positive or negative, the public demands to see the video. Today’s juries expect to see video of every event, and DNA evidence in every trial. Dashboard cameras and body cams (BC) provide the footage that often lands on the evening news. Such on scene coverage is both dramatic and sometimes shocking. The actual events can either make or break careers, condemn or exonerate either police or suspects. So, it would seem plausible that all departments would provide members with the video tools necessary to provide real time history of any occurrence. The big question, however, is what will it cost, and how does a department manage all the captured videos? Are BCs and dashcams something that only wealthy jurisdictions can afford?
Make no mistake, the cost of acquiring BCs is high. Back in 2013 the Obama administration proposed funding $75 million to purchase, upgrade, and maintain 50,000 BCs. That number seems high until one considers repair, replacement, storage, and salaries paid to employees needed to review the videos. Factor in all of that, and $75 million seems a paltry sum. After acquiring BCs and dash cams, either through grants, raised taxes, or outside funding, the costs of maintaining the programs grows exponentially. Such costs could conceivably lead to layoffs of officers to save salaries to pay for the very technology that the public demands.
Unexpected costs
According to the Washington Post, several departments are abandoning the BCs because of associated costs they never anticipated. The Post cites a number of examples: the five-man police department in Wahoo, Nebraska cancelled its program in November when a new state law required a 90-day storage for videos. This new law caused the annual price to soar to $15,000, a cost the tiny department could not afford. Arlington County, Virginia discontinued its BC program after discovering it would cost $300,000 per year. Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, said, “The easy part is buying the body cameras and issuing them to the officers. They are not that expensive. But storing all the data that they collect—that is extraordinary. The smaller the department, the tougher it tends to be for them.” One of the first police agencies to stop using body cameras was in Jeffersonville, Ind. State lawmakers passed legislation requiring videos be stored for 190 days. The cost of storage proved to be too much.
The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that at least 14 states now have laws that set storage requirements. The DOJ conducted a survey in 2016 of departments not yet using BCs. The over-arching reason? Cost. Seventy-seven percent cited costs that included storage, and 39 percent were concerned about privacy, such as domestic violence victims and mentally ill individuals captured on video during an event.
Preparing videos for public release or trial is another of the unexpected costs associated with BCs. Wayne County, Michigan, which includes Detroit, experienced these extra costs. While preparing videos to be presented as evidence at trials, the cost of personnel needed to review and finalize such videos amounted to $2.5 million dollars, a nearly 8 percent increase in their annual budget.
Future concerns
The Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney, Colin Stolle, said video evidence has increased costs for his office by more than $1 million a year, a significant impact on a $10 million annual budget. As a result, he has added 14 employees, lawyers, paralegals and clerks, to a 93-member staff to handle the added workload. “A lot of police departments, from a transparency standpoint and from a liability standpoint, went out and purchased body cameras. I certainly understand that,” Stolle said. “What was not part of the conversation is what will be done with all the recorded evidence when it’s used in a criminal case.”
To further clarify potential costs of BCs, the Virginia legislators created a working group. The results were eye-opening. Their conclusions: prosecutors’ offices throughout Virginia would need to hire 101 assistant commonwealth’s attorney and 57 paralegal and admin positions to handle the extra work. They based these numbers on the study that found that an extra position needs to be added for every 75 body cameras, at a total cost of $6.4 million per year.
In Nashville, the Davidson County District Attorney met with city leaders articulating concerns about cost and privacy of BCs. While the Metro Council gave approval for funding of BCs in July 2017, the police have yet to receive them. General Glenn Funk, the Mayor’s Director of Public Safety, was worried that BCs would end up costing the taxpayers more they could afford. Moreover, he expressed privacy concerns. Funk advised the new programs would require 40-50 additional employees at a cost of $5.5 million per year. "In addition, we have safety and privacy concerns because we cannot allow the dissemination of body cam footage to harm victims or make them more vulnerable, especially in cases of rape or child abuse."
Unintended consequences
Storage, repair, replacement, and review costs can add up quickly, putting a jurisdiction in the red. Storage alone is one of those variables that has departments constantly seeking more funding. The cameras themselves are relatively cheap compared to the ancillary costs. One variable many departments don’t plan for is more money to pay attorneys’ fees for criminal defense lawyers. All the videos must be reviewed by the defense attorney before trial begins. The attorney may have to watch five or six hours of video to prepare his client’s defense. For a small jurisdiction, those attorney costs can be devastating. Taxpayers are eventually the ones who foot the bill, and they may want to trash the program regardless of its success.
Stay Safe, Brothers and Sisters!
