ABILENE, Texas — The Abilene Police Department is asking for City Council for approval of new body-worn and in-car cameras.
Motorola Solutions is the manufacturer of the department's current cameras, but the warranty period for the existing BWCs and experiencing battery and functionality issues with continual use in the field.
"These cameras will be inclusive of our mobile cameras that are in the cars along with 10 interview cameras,” Abilene Assistant Police Chief Doug Wrenn said.
If approved by City Council, the purchase will allow the department to replace all existing BWCs along with additional needed upgrades to in-car and interview room cameras. The department will also have the ability to upload all evidentiary videos to virtual servers and increase the speed at which evidence videos are available for review and processing.
Additionally, the new cameras will be compatible with newer technology and license plate reader (LPR) technology will be active on all of the new in-car cameras.
Forty-seven percent of general purpose law enforcement agencies have acquired body-worn cameras, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Wrenn said these cameras are a big help in the department when it comes to gathering evidence and monitoring what officers are dealing with in the field.
“Many times these body one cameras are able to provide a little more justice to complaints or concerns from the community. It also allows full transparency. So when concerns are expressed, we are able to go back and look at footage. Speeding up the process is gonna make us a more efficient agency as it relates to evidence tagging,” he said.
The next Abilene City Council meeting will happen at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 10. The council will then either deny or approve the $2 million upgrades.
