Cops on Camera

Santa Fe Police seek funds to add body cameras to equipment list

By Elizabeth Miller

The Santa Fe Police Department is pursuing the purchase of 90 body cameras, priced at $795 each, and is asking City Council to add $42,741 to their budget to support the expected costs of just over $70,000 for the cameras and associated equipment.

The cameras that capture video and audio can be used to obtain evidence, filling in gaps where memory might fail in a high-adrenalin situation, the police department says, but they also promote officer safety and can improve community relations with law enforcement and increase accountability.

Research published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology found that when officers wore body cameras, the likelihood of force being used decreased by half, and the number of complaints filed against officers dropped by a magnitude of 10—from 0.7 complaints per 1,000 contacts to 0.07.

Local cops have been testing and evaluating body cameras over the last several months and selected the same company used for video cameras in police vehicles, Digital Ally, in part because the compatibility of the two systems may allow them to work in tandem, Patrick Gallagher, interim police chief, writes in a memo.

The police department is crafting a policy on when officers should make recordings; so far, they have identified arrests, field contact, pursuits, DWI investigations, domestic violence calls, other violent calls and calls dictated at the officer’s (or a commander’s) discretion. Video will be stored for three years. The city attorney is also expected to provide some guidelines for balancing recording incidents with protecting citizens’ privacy—particularly for calls on domestic violence, child abuse and medical issues. 

The measure passed the Finance Committee on Oct. 5 and arrives before the full City Council on the consent agenda for the meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Santa Fe Reporter

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