DAYTON — The city of Dayton is close to signing a contract for body worn cameras for every Dayton Police Officer.
After the death of George Floyd, body-worn cameras became a focal point of many community reform groups, and people feel the cameras might lead to more transparency and trust.
Shelley Dickestein, Dayton’s City Manager, is expecting commissioners to approve the department wide body-worn cameras.
“Body-worn cameras are a high priority for the community, for the commission, and quite honestly for the police department,” said Dickstein.
Body-worn cameras can be an expensive investment for police departments, especially one as large as Dayton’s, but an incident captured at the Westown Shopping Center on Labor Day weekend during the department’s trial run of the body-cameras proved just how important they can be for investigations.
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A social media video recorded on on a cellphone showed a man running from two officers, eventually diving to the ground as they close in on him.
One officer appeared to have put his knee on the man’s back, and the other officer punches him three times in the shoulder as they attempt to handcuff him.
The video prompted about a dozen people to protest outside Dayton Police headquarters for what they described as an example of excessive force.
One of the officers was wearing a trial body camera, which showed officers asking 26-year-old George Lail about a dozen times to step out of the car after they tried to get him to pull over at a red light.
A struggle took place and Lail broke free, but body-camera footage was able to capture a gun that he was prohibited from having due to a felony conviction.
The cell-phone, cruiser camera, and body worn camera all together allowed police and the community to have a better understanding of what took place.
The big sticking point for several months has been coming up with the cash to pay for the cameras.
“We are using the red-light safety fund that we established for the photo-enforcement funds, that can only be used on safety,” Dickstein said.
Although, the idea to use money drivers pay in fines to get the body-worn cameras is more popular.
The city hopes to have all the officers outfitted with cameras on every shift around the end of May or beginning of June.
They are also expecting to have to hire a extra people to handle all of the data management that comes with the extra cameras.
Cox Media Group
