Oswego Village Board OKs purchase of armored vehicle, body-cams for police

The Oswego Village Board has approved the purchase of an armored vehicle and an agreement for the purchase of body-worn cameras and in-car video systems for the village’s police department at a total cost of $577,306.

The board authorized the purchases as part of their consent agenda during a meeting Tuesday evening, June 14.

As approved, village police will be acquiring a Lenco Bearcat G-2 armored truck from Lenco Armored Vehicles at a cost of $251,136.

In a separate agreement with Motorola Solutions, the village will purchase 16 in-car video systems, 53 body-worn cameras, accessories, data storage, and installation at a cost of $326,170 over the next five years. The department will make an initial payment of $72,746 and four annual payments of $61,116.

The armored vehicle was included in the department’s FY23 Vehicle Fund budget. The vehicle will be purchased with funding from asset forfeiture restricted funds and the Vehicle Fund, according to Police Chief Jeff Burgner.

Burgner said his intent is to have his front-line officers trained to use the vehicle so in the event of an active shooter or in the event people need to be rescued from a building they won’t have to wait for a SWAT team.

“We’ve had this in our capital budget for about three years,” Burgner said. “It’s something that we’ve looked at as a useful piece of equipment for those very limited circumstances.”

In a memo to the board, Burgner further detailed the need and how police will utilize the the armored vehicle.

“The approach for police response to firearms related emergency calls for service has changed significantly over the last twenty years. Since the school shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, law enforcement has significantly changed tactical responses to these types of violent calls as well as other firearms related emergency calls,” the memo stated.

“The equipment needed to respond has evolved and front-line police officers are training comparable to how Special Response Teams (SRT) traditionally responded. Front line patrol officers are trained to rapidly respond to active shooter or violent firearm emergency calls for service using advanced tactical training and specialized equipment they receive at their respective police department,” the memo stated.

In a presentation to the board from October 2020, Burgner detailed the department’s need for body-worn cameras and how they would be used by the department. The department has been investigating the deployment of BWC’s since 2015, according to the presentation.

“BWC’s are another tool to assist in the maintenance of transparency and accountability,” the presentation stated.

Body-worn cameras are useful in confirming officer accounts, verifying and protecting officers against baseless complaints, and gathering information potentially vital to the village in lawsuits, according to the presentation.

The presentation states that the cameras are also useful in evidence collecting and for training purposes.

Under the state’s Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act, all Illinois law enforcement agencies will be required to have body cameras by 2025.