VWPD using dash and body cameras

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The Van Wert Police Department is making full use of its newest equipment – body cameras and dashboard cams.

Officers and the department’s cruisers were outfitted with the new equipment during the spring and both the body and dashboard cams have been in use since early-to-mid April. A grant of $84,468 from the Ohio-Body Worn Camera Grant Program and money already set aside in the budget made the purchase possible.

The dashboard cameras are automatically activated if a cruiser’s overhead lights are turned on, but manual activation is required for the body-worn cameras, which are about the size of a deck of playing cards and are worn in the mid-chest area. 

Van Wert Police Sgt. Adam Wehage, who researched the cameras and did a presentation at PELC (Police Executive Leadership College) in Dublin, Ohio, said the cameras are of benefit to the police department and the public.

“It helps officers when writing reports to get more accurate details of it (an incident),” he said. “There’s a lot of statistics that say they actually help de-escalate a situation when people know they’re being recorded, and there’s greater transparency. It’s come in handy – I’ve been able to recount things better that somebody said during a report, been able to go in and review our stuff.”

“It helps with public trust,” Van Wert Police Chief Doug Weigle said. “It also helps if someone makes a bunch of false claims…it makes a lot of sense that most of my department wanted this to help protect them.”

“We’re not Chicago, we’re not Ferguson, our officers are pretty even-keel out there and we don’t have the tense moments that some of those bigger cities do – we’re usually a step down from other departments on use of force because we try to talk people out of stuff and I think the cameras will help show that,” the chief added. “Even if an officer is having a bad day, they know they’re being recorded now so they’ll take that extra step so overall, I think it’s going to be a very good tool from our department,” Weigle added.

Chief Weigle said policy calls for the Axon brand body cameras to be turned on with nearly every interaction.

“If it’s an actual, official issue we’re going to turn those on in almost every situation,” Weigle stated. “There are parts of the policy that state when to turn them off – if we’re talking to a victim that doesn’t want to be recorded, or for the privacy of the individual, they can be turned off.”

Weigle added there are several other exceptions, including officer safety, strategy discussions, privileged conversations between a suspect and an attorney, and to protect the amonymity of a witness or informant. 

Before starting a shift, each officer is responsible for making sure the cameras are in full working order.

“Every day when an officer comes in and they go out in their cruisers, we have to do an equipment check for everything,” Wehage explained. “We have to make sure the camera systems are functioning properly – those are simple recordings that only last one second just to make sure that everything is working.

Wehage noted the dashboard cams have automated license plate recognition, which makes it quick and easy to find out if a car has been stolen.

“The first or second day we had the system activated we recovered a stolen car with it,” he said. “As you’re driving down the road or in a parking lot it will capture images of vehicles and license plates and runs it through the NCIC system and if it comes back as a stolen vehicle it gives us the opportunity to investigate further.”

The Van Wert Police Department currently has a 13 page policy manual that outlines the use of both the dashboard cameras and body cameras.