Berlin Cops Stop Using Body Cams: Report

The Berlin Police Department has ended officers’ voluntary use of body cameras to record dealings with the public because of the new, more restrictive, and costly state policy that went into effect on Friday, according to a report.

Berlin Police Chief Paul Fitzgerald said newly imposed longer storage requirements, data retrieval and editing of body camera videos prompted the retired state trooper, who’s been chief since 2003, to halt the use of the cameras on Jan. 1, according to The Courant. The newspaper reported that the Putnam Police Department is the only other department in the state to stop use of body cams.

The new policy, approved by the state Police Officer Standards Training Council in early November, requires departments to store body camera data for at least three months. Any recording considered evidence for court and other legal purposes shall be retained for a minimum of four years.

“The intent of the public act passed this year about body camera use was good but the management of the system is the problem for us,” Fitzgerald told The Courant. He said his department doesn’t have the equipment and manpower that would be needed to store data and edit it if information was requested.

Berlin officers had six body cameras and all patrol cars are equipped with the cameras for traffic stops, according to The Courant report that can be found here.