10
S moke S ignals
JANUARY 15, 2017
Department has eight body cameras
CAMERAS continued
from front page
think the only reason why currently
that it isn’t mandatory is because
they are expensive and it’s hard to
get the budget to supply them all,
especially for a bigger agency.”
McKnight, who is a Tribal mem-
ber, said he wanted to get ahead of
the curve so the police department
used an amended grant from the
U.S. Department of Justice to pur-
chase body cameras.
“I figured that it’s time to try to
get in front of that so we’re ready
for it when they do decide to make
it mandatory for all law enforce-
ment throughout the country,” said
McKnight. “I also want to be as
transparent as possible as a police
department. That was my main
push for it, I guess,
was to be transpar-
ent.”
McKnight said de-
spite being only a
phone call away, he
still can’t be with all
his officers all of the
time.
“I figured this would
be the best supervisor
I could give them is a
body cam,” said McK-
night. “It basically
reminds the officers
to stay professional
because they know we
will be watching their
stops and their con-
tacts with the public.”
McKnight worked
with Planning and
Grants Development Manager
Kim Rogers to secure funding for
the cameras. Rogers amended an
earlier grant to make it available
for the purchase of the equipment.
Rogers said the Department
of Justice grants have regularly
amounted to $300,000 annually
and that those funds have been
used to establish the Tribal police
force.
The Department of Justice issued
$20 million to be used for police
body cameras in 106 state, city,
Tribal and municipal law enforce-
ment agencies in 2016.
“We used these grants to build
the police department because their
goal was 24/7 coverage,” said Rog-
ers. “We have just enough officers
now to do that.”
Rogers said most of the funding
the department has received has
hired officers, but that there are
provisions for the purchase of nec-
essary equipment for use in law
enforcement activities. He said
that awards received are open for
three years to spend and that he
was able to amend the funds from
a 2014 grant to purchase the body
cameras and related software.
McKnight chose to work with a
company in the United Kingdom to
secure the cameras his personnel
use today.
“We tested out a couple of differ-
ent cameras. The one that we chose
to go with is Reveal,” said McK-
night. “The reason we chose them
is because they had good quality
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Body cameras sit in a docking station at the Grand Ronde Tribal Police
Department. The department has eight body cameras, one for each officer,
and one extra. At left, a body camera is seen on the vest of Grand Ronde
Tribal Police Department Sgt. Rod McAllister. The cameras are front facing
and record what the officer would see while responding to a call.
cameras and also the lens on the
camera is adjustable so we’re able
to turn it. Officers can adjust the
lens. The other ones don’t move so
I figured these would be the best.”
Each 32 gigabyte camera cost
$989 and the department pur-
chased eight cameras and a docking
station for $349. Each camera has
an articulated, rotating head and a
front-facing screen.
“One of the big features on the
camera is that it has a front-facing
screen so that way the person you
are talking to can actually see their
face on the screen,” said McKnight.
“It’s a deterrent for them to act up.
I, for one, have noticed that. A lot
of times when they are talking to
you they actually just stare at the
screen. I think it works. My officers
haven’t told me anything different
so it’s another good option to have.”
According to Revealmedia.com,
body-worn cameras reduce officer
complaints by as much as 90 per-
cent and reduce officer’s use of force
by 50 percent. Reveal also claims its
users report a 90-percent increase
in early guilty pleas and that use of
its technology creates a 22-percent
increase in officer’s time available
for patrol.
Reveal has been in business for
nearly a decade and the company’s
cameras and software are being
used in more than 30 states and
throughout Europe, Asia, Canada,
Australia and Hong Kong.
Reveal’s Marketing Program
Manager Rini Chacko said the
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Depart-
ment is the first Native American
police department the company has
worked with.
“Our main customer base is made
up of police forces from around the
world,” said Chacko in an e-mail
interview from England. “We have
trials and deployments in more
than 40 countries around the world.
We are very interested in playing
an active role with Tribal author-
ities in helping them through the
education, purchase and imple-
mentation process of body worn
cameras.”
Chako said the company’s cus-
tomers appreciate how simple it is
to turn on the recording feature, the
adjustable lens feature, the ability
of the camera to pick up images in
low-light conditions and that the
cameras have encrypted memories
for even more security for the video
footage stored.
Warm Springs Tribal Police Sgt.
Casey Lockey said he also thinks
the cameras work. He said that
Warm Springs Tribal Police De-
partment personnel have been
using body camera technology for
three years.
The Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs is made up of 4,000 Wasco
and Paiute Tribal members.
Warm Springs police use Watch-
Guard Copvu body cameras and
Lockey said their officers have five
in-car cameras recording at all
times as well.
“So we have five cameras in our
car,” said Lockey. “All four points
and one in the prisoner cage and
then we have the body cams, too.
We love them. We love having them
because it reduces complaints from
citizens. Also, it checks our officers
– you’ve got to be professional. Our
complaints went down dramat-
ically. We hardly get any officer
complaints now.”
Lockey said there was a transi-
tion at first and that the officers
did not like hearing and seeing
themselves on camera. In time, he
said, it changed and now they all
welcome the cameras.
“When we first had them it was a
big deal to us. Nobody liked them,”
said Lockey. “It doesn’t change you
as an officer. To this day, I almost
forget I’m wearing one. I’m aware
it’s there, but it’s no big deal to us.”
Umatilla Tribal Police Chief
Timothy Addleman said his depart-
ment has not seen a need for body
cameras yet, but that he sees the
day when they will most likely also
have body-worn law enforcement
cameras on their officers.
The Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Reservation has had a
Tribal police department in con-
tinuous service since 1981. The
Umatilla Tribal Police Department
has 18 sworn officers on duty and
five communication officers who
provide 24/7 service to the Tribal
community.
Addleman, who has been the chief
of police for the Umatilla Tribe for
seven years, said his department
has gotten in-car cameras, but they
are not in use yet. He said he is
working closely with his Tribal In-
formation Technology Department
to get the in-car cameras working.
“There are a lot of issues that
especially a Tribal nation has to
look at,” said Addleman. “One of
the issues is when it comes to record
keeping – you will have to comply
with records requests for copies of
the tapes and you have to look at
blanking out people’s faces that
aren’t involved. … There is a lot
of work to this. There is a lot that
goes into this.”
Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton
said that his department does not
use body cameras, but he can see a
day when his officers will have that
technology in place.
Garton, whose department has
20 officers, pointed to the shooting
of Dallas Police Officer Sgt. Rob
Hatchell in the parking lot of a Wal-
Mart in Dallas on Friday, Dec. 16,
as an example of why he thinks it
See CAMERAS
continued on page 11