DeKalb County police agencies consider body cameras for officers

DeKALB – Before the end of the year, four Northern Illinois University police officers will be equipped with body cameras, a trendy police tool that’s gained attention from agencies across the country.

The popularity of police body cameras, devices about the size of a pager that can be clipped nearly anywhere on an officer, has increased in the wake of Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson fatally shooting 18-year-old unarmed black teen Michael Brown. The shooting and the racially-charged protests that came after it raised concerns over police tactics and interactions with the public.

While they have used in-car cameras for years, police officials across DeKalb County said they also want to attach body cameras to their officers. But the added cost for the devices and a state law that limits what the cameras could record have created roadblocks for some departments.

NIU Police Chief Tom Phillips said he’s been in favor of the cameras since he heard about them about five years ago. On his force, there’s potential for 10 patrol officers to have them.

“It modifies the behavior of not only the officers,” Phillips said, “but the people we interact with.”

Phillips said when the time came to replace two of the department’s patrol vehicles, he researched an integrated camera system that connects the cameras inside patrol vehicles to a camera on the officer. When two Ford Police Interceptors replace two of the department’s Toyota Priuses in the next couple of months, they will be equipped with the new system. Later in the year, Phillips expects to put two more in place.

Phillips said the price of the new system was comparable to what the in-car camera systems costs, which is about $5,000. In theory, the cameras will automatically turn on when an officer flips on the lights for a traffic stop.

Before the cameras arrive, the department will need a policy dictating how officers can use the cameras. The policy will have to work with the state eavesdropping law – regarded as one of the nation’s strictest – which makes it a felony for a person to record a conversation without all parties consenting. Because of the law, Phillips said the cameras will not record audio.

The Illinois Supreme Court dubbed the Illinois Eavesdropping Act unconstitutional this spring because it criminalized recording clearly public conversations. The court tasked state legislature with amending the law, but the amendment stalled this spring.

Until the law is amended, DeKalb police Chief Gene Lowery doesn’t plan to buy any body cameras. If lawmakers did loosen the law, Lowery would also have to consider the added cost for a body camera, which can range from $500 to $1,000, he said.

Challenges aside, Lowery said he would like DeKalb officers to have body cameras because it could cut down on police complaints and answer any questions about what happened during a police interaction.

“I think down the road when we look at outfitting a police officer, we will look a outfitting police with body cameras,” Lowery said.

Two downstate lawmakers, State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, and Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, introduced a bill that would add a $6 surcharge to fines for criminal and traffic offense convictions that would help police agencies pay for body cameras. Gordon-Booth estimated the surcharge would bring in an additional $4 million to $6 million annually, with police departments submitting grant applications for some of the money.

Local Rep. Bob Pritchard, a Hinckley Republican, doesn’t think lawmakers will take any action on the bill until next year. Even then, he’s not sure creating another surcharge is the best way to provide for body cameras.

He also questioned whether a statewide need for the devices exists.

“It’s an expensive program to provide,” Pritchard said. “And how many times will it actually come into play?”

Footage from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department’s patrol cars often comes into play in DUI court cases, Sheriff Roger Scott said. All of the departments 24 patrol cars have cameras in them, which come on when a deputy initiates a traffic stop or manually. Correctional officers in the jail also have cameras on their tasers.

Scott said once he knows the law will allow his deputies to use the cameras, he would like to implement them as soon as 2015.

“In this day and age,” Scott said, “people are asking for more and more recorded evidence.”