At $400 a piece, the office believes the small cameras
– which are inserted into the handle of the TASER gun – will
save money in the long run.
HOLLISTER
These videos won’t be showing up on YouTube.
But the San Benito County Sheriff’s Offices does hope videos from 60 new TASER cameras will help protect both deputies and the public.
“It tells a story,” Undersheriff Pat Turturici said.
In 2004, the office used a Rural County Crime Prevention Act grant to purchase deputies TASERs. Law enforcement experts argue that TASERs make apprehension safer, as the weapon uses electricity to stun suspects either from a distance with darts or up close.
Turturici said the cameras will show if deputies are following the office’s use-of-force policy.
Lt. Roy Iler said the new technology should prevent frivolous complaints and relieve fears about misuse.
“This is just an insurance policy for our deputies,” Iler said.
At $400 a piece, the office also believes the small cameras – which are inserted into the handle of the TASER gun – will save money in the long run.
The cameras act as batteries and are rechargeable, providing up to 10 hours of power. Disposable batteries for the TASERs normally run $28 each, Iler said.
Iler said the cameras – which record on a memory card – could also be used to document crime scenes. Once the TASER is activated, so is the camera.
So far, deputies have used the new cameras twice.
The office showed the Free Lance a video taken at night on Cienega Road of a suspected suicidal man. The reported incident appeared in night-vision style footage.
Deputies told the man to keep his hands up – they didn’t know if he had a weapon – and commanded him to come toward a gate.
When the man lowered his hands and began walking toward deputies using obscenities and saying “Tase (sic) me,” they obliged and did just that.
Darts shot out from the top of the screen – the camera is mounted below the cartridge – striking the man and dropping him to the ground.
Every deputy and correctional officer working for the sheriff is assigned a TASER and will soon have a camera to go along, Iler said.
And as citizen-made videos of law enforcement using TASERs surface on Web sites such YouTube.com, the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office deputies will be recording their own.
