Romeoville joins growing number of Will County police agencies with body cameras

Romeoville Police Chief Ken Kroll said police officers can use body cameras to help improve their skills and performance, just like professional athletes who watch footage of themselves or other athletes.

Kroll said every sports team in the world routinely does film review to improve their performance. Similarly, officers can use body cameras to see what they’ve done well and where they’ve made mistakes, he said.

“This is going to give the police department an opportunity to break down film, just like professional athletes, and get better at our jobs,” Kroll said.

Kroll’s department is part of a growing number of police departments across Will County that are equipping their officers with body cameras as required under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act.

The law requires towns with populations of less than 50,000 to implement body cameras by Jan. 1, 2025. Towns with populations of at least 50,000 but less than 100,000 must implement them by Jan. 1, 2024.

Romeoville’s body cameras from the company Axon already have arrived, Kroll said.

“I think it’s realistic that we might be able to have these on the street by March 1,” he said.

Police departments in Joliet, New Lenox and the Will County Sheriff’s Office already have equipped their officers with body cameras. Departments in Bolingbrook, Lockport and Crest Hill have yet to implement body cameras.

Shorewood police officers have just started using them, Shorewood Police Chief Phil Arnold said. Body cameras have been ordered for the Plainfield police officers, and they are waiting for their arrival, Plainfield police Cmdr. Anthony Novak said.

Kroll said he believes the devices will create better trust with the community, but trust also is built with how officers conduct themselves.

“We as a profession, we earn more trust with our community and our residents by being good people and being good members of our community and being involved in the community,” Kroll said.

Joliet police Lt. Moises Avila said he also believes body cameras will make the officers’ jobs better.

“I think the big buzzword in the media is transparency, right? That’s pretty much what everybody’s been striving for,” Avila said.

The public calls for officers to wear body cameras began as early as 2014 with the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which put an international spotlight on police killings and brutality in the U.S.

The incident was not captured on video, and Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden, urged lawmakers in 2016 to require officers to wear body cameras. McSpadden said that although cameras were no substitute for good police and policies, recordings of other police shootings showed some officers initially lied about what happened, according to The Associated Press.

Recently, body camera footage captured the killing of Tyre Nichols on Jan. 7 in Memphis, Tennessee. Five officers have been charged with second-degree murder in the case.

Kroll said video has limitations “just like the naked eye has limitations.”

He said he would hate for the criminal justice system and society to erode to the point where “if it’s not on video, it didn’t happen.” He said he would hope judges, prosecutors and police still pursue investigations even if there isn’t video.

“I think you need all the pieces of the puzzle,” he said.

Avila said one limitation with body cameras is that they don’t have a 360-degree perspective. If something is happening behind an officer or outside the 140-degree viewpoint, it’s not going to get captured, he said.

“There will be some things that will be missed,” he said.

Avila said the Joliet Police Department has been using body cameras for about a year. He said the devices will give everyone a clear idea of what officers do and how they perform their job.

“It’s the new normal, and we’re there, and we’re conducting ourselves in the way we’re required to do,” Avila said.