Hollister
– The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office began using four new
in-car digital video systems Wednesday in hopes of protecting
deputies and members of the public alike.
Hollister – The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office began using four new in-car digital video systems Wednesday in hopes of protecting deputies and members of the public alike.
Sheriff Curtis Hill said the video systems will record the actions of both deputies and members of the public who’ve been stopped. The sheriff’s office hopes the new tool will reduce lawsuits against deputies and the county, keep deputies safe and encourage members of the public to be on their best behavior.
“We see it as a huge officer safety tool,” Hill said. “It’s another layer of protection to keep our deputies safe and get them home at night.”
Hill said he wants members of the community to know that when they get stopped by a deputy, they are being videotaped.
The digital systems cost the office $4,000 each and were designed by Kansas-based Digital Ally.
The entire system is contained in the rearview mirror of the patrol car, with a small camera mounted in the windshield, said Steve Campbell of Digital Ally. The rearview mirror also contains a 3.5-inch screen for playback of video and is not visible when the deputy is driving.
The cameras can record four hours of high-resolution video at a time, Campbell said.
Unlike video tape, compact discs or DVDs, the card will withstand the high speeds and bumpy rides of a normal patrol shift, Campbell said.
“There’s no skipping,” he said. “There’s not moving parts whatsoever.”
Before the installation of the new systems, the sheriff’s office had not used video monitoring in its regular patrol cars, Lt. Roy Iler said. The San Juan Bautista patrol car has an 8-year-old videotape system that takes up trunk space, he said.
“It’s like going from black-and-white TV to color TV,” Campbell said.
Another feature of the digital system is “pre-event” recording, which continuously captures up to 60 seconds of video. The camera begins recording when a deputy turns on the car’s emergency lights and siren. The system will allow a deputy to capture a driver running a red light before the deputy pulls him over, giving the deputy extra evidence, Campbell said.
“This could even affect the court system and the DA’s office,” Iler said.
The recording system is also equipped with a 1,000-foot range audio transceiver that deputies can wear and use when pulling over a vehicle or entering a building.
The rearview mirror contains a second camera and internal microphone to record the inside of the patrol car.
At the end of a patrol shift, the deputy can upload the video into the sheriff’s office computers. The storage system prevents deputies from tampering with video files, Campbell said.
“There’s no way for the sworn officer to delete any images,” he said.
Hill hopes all 11 sheriff’s office patrol cars will be outfitted with the digital systems by year’s end.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected].
