Mendham Police Uniforms Now Include Body Worn Cameras

MENDHAM, NJ — Members of Mendham Borough Police Department have a new addition to their uniforms as of Monday, that officers have started wearing Axon Body Worn Cameras.

The Department announced the change on its social media and website, for officers, including those who are in plain clothes.

“This technology is invaluable to serve and protect our public as well as serving to protect our officers,” the police department wrote.

The cameras, the department explained, provides not only evidentiary support but offer training and transparency to the police department.

Each officer will wear one on the chest area badge-level.

In some situations, the officer can switch it to “stealth” mode when their safety could be compromised, according to the policy document about the camera operations on the borough’s website; and has a special procedure for doing so, when they are turning them off.

The change has been instituted as part of the New Jersey Attorney General Directive set by former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal in May 2021, which Grewal set based on laws that require the use of Body Worn Cameras for "all uniformed patrol officers."

According to Directive 2021-5, Grewal wrote in a news release that many departments had started voluntarily using the cameras as early as 2015, with the public "coming to expect that officers will be equipped with some kind of recording technology in the performance of their duties," he stated, the demand "in the wake of critical incidents involving police use of force."

Per the directive, available here, the cameras record both audio and video of "activities that take place during any law enforcement action," though they are not required for some officers, including those working undercover and in schools, among circumstances.

Unless the officer encounters a dangerous situation, the directive indicates they must tell people they are being recorded, the directive also states, including while they're in someone's home, speaking to crime victims and speaking to someone who is talking anonymously to the officer, though in these circumstances, it can be requested to the officer to turn off the camera.

Police departments must keep footage for 180 days, with it automatically kept for three years if a complaint is filed in an incident, the directive states.

As part of the directive, police departments were also required, to provide public notice, as Mendham had on social media and on the borough's website.

For more information about the body worn camera use in Mendham Borough’s Police Department, click here.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a local news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.