Body Cams Now Being Used By Red Bank Police Officers

RED BANK, NJ — The Red Bank Police Department has now equipped all uniformed officers with "body cam" cameras, in addition to the mobile patrol car cameras the department has been using, the borough announced.

This is the first time officers have been equipped with body cameras, except for a brief trial the department did to evaluate vendors last year, said Chief Darren McConnell, who is also the interim borough administrator.

"We have had mobile cameras or dash cams in our patrol vehicles since the early 2000's but no body cameras," he said.

He said the department implemented the cameras over a three-day period, starting around Oct. 15.

New Jersey law required that all departments across the state implement the use of body cams by June 1, 2021, he said.

"Unfortunately, that was the same day the state released the associated funding, so departments like ours that did not have them in the budget were unable to order them until the funding was sorted out," McConnell said.

He said the borough placed its order in July of 2021 and just received the cameras this month.

"There are only three major vendors of these cameras and 38,000 police officers in New Jersey alone, so obviously there was a supply chain issue that was significant," he added.

He said the cameras are designed to document interactions between officers and the public, to serve an evidentiary purpose for court and to supplement our officers' recollection of events when they prepare detailed police reports.

"They will also be used for training and evaluation purposes where appropriate," he added.

The J. Harris Academy of Police Training conducted best practices training to the entire department. he said.

"This covered training our officers on the Attorney General policy regarding the use of body cameras and when they are and are not to be activated and various circumstances that can impact that.

"It also discussed the best methods of utilizing the devices to maximize their benefit, concerns regarding privacy matters, considerations during an array of different scenarios and issues that have arisen in other agencies and how they can best be dealt with," McConnell said.

Regarding cost, he said there "quite a significant cost to the borough."

"The cameras and back-end systems cost the borough approximately $250,000 spread over a five-year period. This does not include ancillary equipment and redaction software that needed to be purchased nor does it include the employee costs of monitoring, redacting, distributing and maintaining the video recordings," he explained.

He said the borough received approximately $80,000 in funds from the state that went towards that $250,000 outlay.