The he-said, she-said arguments that sometimes derail domestic cases in criminal court soon will be less of an influence in Allen County.
Before the end of July, county officers will be outfitted with head-mounted cameras that will see and hear everything an officer does when a call is answered. The cameras also will be used in the county jail by corrections personnel to help record disturbances.
Know by the acronym AXON — for Autonomous Extended On-officer Network — information gleaned by the devices will be downloaded at the end of each shift to a computer data vault.
Sheriff Tom Williams said protocols controlling use of the cameras would prevent any public release of images or conversations recorded.
“None of it will ever be on YouTube or any other social network,” he said.
THE SEED that grew into the computerized law enforcement tool was planted several months ago by Allen County Attorney Wade Bowie.
He mentioned to Williams that because of differences in unrecorded testimony on the scene, he sometimes found it difficult to sustain and prosecute domestic cases. He suggested officers be supplied hand-held video cameras. Williams thought that would be unwieldy, that officers had their hands full (literally) when refereeing and dealing with domestic disturbances.
That’s when the AXON cameras surfaced.
Bowie signed on and made available money from fees collected in diversion cases and Williams fleshed out funding for the $38,000 system with fees collected by his office for confirming vehicle identification numbers (VIN) and money from the jail inmate fund. The only tax-generated funding involved is $5,0000 from the Sheriff’s Department budget.
Allen County and other area officers have had stationary in-vehicle video cameras for some time, but they are limited in scope to what is directly in line of sight.
THE MOBILE camera is positioned on an officer’s ear, held in place by a small harness that goes over the head. A cord attaches it to a computer the officer carries in a shirt pocket.
The camera runs continuously, with interruptions only for privacy issues.
While domestic cases were the flash point that led to the innovation being added to the county’s arsenal of crime-fighting devices, the cameras will be invaluable in many other circumstances, Williams predicted.
A good example, he said, is during car chases, when certain events along the way, such as a stop sign violation or something being thrown from a car such as a gun or drugs, looms large when a case is being constructed for prosecution.
“All the officer will have to do is tap a button on the computer and a notation of where and when something happened will be recorded,” he said, with the “where” marked specifically by an internal global positioning system (GPS).
“It’s hard to go back after a chase and find something from memory,” Williams said. “With this, we’ll be able to drive right to it.”
In addition to knowing exactly who said what and when, the county attorney, or any prosecutor, will be able to pull information from what is recorded. Also, it will be as easy as burning a DVD to provide information to which defense attorneys are entitled.
“In a DUI (driving while under the influence of alcohol) investigation, the officer may spend two hours and the county attorney will need only about 10 minutes of what’s recorded, which will be easily accessible,” Williams said. “It’s going to be a great investigation tool for us and a great advantage in prosecution of cases.
“I have complete trust in the professionalism of my deputies and staff,” Williams added. “These AXON units will only document their professionalism and will aid them in the collection of information and evidence during day-to-day operations.”
