CONWAY, Ark. — The Conway Police Department rolled out its new body camera system on Monday. However, a spokesperson says the $250,000 project has been in the works for quite some time.
Officers tell THV11, these new body cameras won’t only help them connect more evidence, but they will also help keep officers accountable and help promote transparency.
“Anytime that we make an encounter with the public that we feel could lead to an arrest, a citation or a warning,” Patrol Sergeant Tom Kennedy, said.
Before the new body camera system, Conway Police cars were only equipped with cameras that recorded anything that happened in front of the vehicle.
Sgt. Kennedy said with the new system, officers can record everything they see.
“It secures fairly simple on to our chest and this camera is ready,” Sgt. Kennedy said.
He says, the footage will be useful to prosecutors, but will also help keep officer accountable.
“This camera is only able to obtain facts and not opinions so everything that is captured can be watched later at the police department, can be reviewed by supervisors,” Sgt. Kennedy said.
“If we get complaints on officers, we can look at this footage to tell if that complaint is warranted or not,” Sgt. Kennedy said.
Ultimately Conway Police said these body cameras are just another tool to keep the system just.
“No matter how good our memories are, things kind of go away. So this is just another tool we can use to help recall in our cases, exactly what was said word for word,” Sgt. Kennedy said.
All officers are now equipped with the new cameras but not all patrol units are on the same system. Some of the units are still using the older camera system and it will take some time to transition.
Until the transition, officers will have to manually begin a recording. Once the transition is complete, the body cameras will begin recording automatically when the sirens on police cars are switched on.