Freehold Borough officials are considering the use of body-worn cameras by police officers and have taken the first steps in that direction.
“We will study the implications of using body cameras. A lot of departments are using them, so we decided to put this in our orbit,” Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina said.
Borough Council members have authorized the Freehold Borough Police Department and Bellina to submit a request for funding from the state’s Body Worn Camera Assistance Program.
“We are at a point in society where technology is outstepping human ability,” Bellina said.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is allocating $2.5 million in criminal forfeiture funds to help police departments buy body cameras, according to nj.gov.
Acting Attorney General John Jay Hoffman has authorized an offset of up to $500 for each body camera or camera “package,” including body camera and related equipment, the website said.
Bellina, who is working with Lt. Michael Sweetman on this matter, said the cost is about $900 per package, and the borough would need 35 packages.
The decision to acquire body cameras is left to individual police departments and municipalities, but they likely will be influenced by state legislation that requires newly purchased patrol cars to be equipped with mobile video recording systems, nj.gov states.
Because the statutory requirement can be satisfied if an officer in the vehicle is wearing a body camera and because body cameras are more versatile, many police departments are expected to elect to acquire body cameras instead of dashboard cameras, according to nj.gov.
Police departments can apply for body camera assistance through their county prosecutor. Assistance available to each county is to be capped based on total county population. Monmouth County, a Tier 4 county with a population above 600,000, is capped at $150,000.
To encourage and guide the growing deployment of body cameras, Hoffman issued a statewide policy to promote best practices and uniformity in using the devices. The new directive establishes foundational requirements while allowing individual police departments to tailor policies to local needs, nj.gov states.