Schaumburg Police Getting Cameras
The Village of Schaumburg has announced that it has come up with a plan to equip all of their police squad cars and motorcycles with cameras. The cost will be $334,620. The funding source will be grants from various sources. There will be no additional cost to the Village. The Village has hired CVS Office Technologies to provide 40 in camera systems for the Department’s police cars and motorcycles. The cameras will be able to capture events that happen inside the vehicles and outside the vehicles. The videos can be used in court to prosecute cases or to defend police officers from claims of excessive force or improper behavior. According to the Schaumburg Police, even though the cameras can be used in prosecutions, they believe that the evidence captured by cameras benefits police officers 90% of the time. Most of the criminal cases that will involve video evidence will be DUI cases.
It sounds like this will be a work-in-progress for the village. Police officers will have the ability to turn on and turn off the cameras when they want. However, the cameras will also have the ability to automatically capture significant events on its own. As the program takes effect, the village will enact policies and procedures that will govern and how the cameras are operated. Schaumburg has been criticized for being behind the curve when it comes to camera technology inside their vehicles. The current outdated system has been criticized for being ineffective because it is too sensitive. It has been known to activate every time a vehicle hits a pothole. Prior to that, the village abandoned their VHS camera system because it simply did not work. The police department believes that this new system, and the modern technology it employs, will put the Schaumburg Police Department near the front of the pack when it comes to cameras inside their vehicles. The Village has signed up for the maximum maintenance plan with CDS Office Technologies, which will last five years. When it comes to squad car cameras, five years seems to be the maximum amount of time that such technology is considered to be current. It would appear that after five years, the village would be looking to upgrade the cameras inside their vehicles.
James Dimeas is an award winning criminal defense attorney and author with more than 24 years of experience aggressively representing his clients in criminal cases. If you have a criminal case in Illinois, contact me in Chicago (312-229-5500), DuPage and Kane (630-504-2096) or Lake (847-696-6458) for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your legal options.
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