The Orange County Sheriff’s Department gave its first body-worn cameras to patrol deputies in Yorba Linda on Monday, Oct. 4, with the program expected to be fully rolled out next year.
A handful of deputies wore the body cameras for the first time on their day shifts Monday at the Yorba Linda station, with the rest of the nearly 40 deputies there to get them within about one week, Sgt. Matthew Timmins said. The program is expected to be fully implemented by the end of next year, with more than 1,000 additional cameras allocated to patrol operations, investigative divisions and some supervisors, he said.
The county’s largest law enforcement agency has been working to get the body camera program started for a few years, joining other agencies in the county that already have the technology. Earlier this year, Sheriff Don Barnes said part of that was due to figuring out how to operate it, including the size of video files, bandwidth, storage and the number of people it will take to manage the cameras.
“We just want to make sure that when we implement this technology it’s done in a strategic manner,” Yorba Linda City Capt. Cory Martino said. “We’ve beta-tested several different programs, we feel this is the best one.”
Anaheim was the first police department in the county to use body-worn cameras in 2015. Some other agencies, such as Fullerton and Irvine, have also gotten cameras since.
Yorba Linda is the first of the Sheriff Department’s 13 contract cities to use body-worn cameras.
Luke Sapolu, one of the first deputies at the Yorba Linda station to get a camera, said he is excited to wear one.
“There are some benefits to having in-car video, but having it on our body just gives a different perspective,” he said. “Any time you have a different perspective during an incident, it helps people get a better understanding of exactly what is going on.”
Martino said he hopes the body cameras will strengthen the relationship with the community by increasing accountability, transparency and trust. As the program begins, he said his station will make sure they have the right infrastructure for the technology, including staffing to deploy it and process the data.
“This allows us that opportunity to kind of test that,” Martino said. “To make sure that we can make any necessary adjustments as we phase this out to other contract cities and unincorporated parts of the county.”
The body cameras are positioned just above the center of the torso, either mounted to deputies’ vests or shirts, Timmins said.
Deputies must press a button on the camera to start a recording, which has a buffer that goes back one minute prior to when they started recording, Timmins said. Audio will start recording when the deputies press the button, but the minute-long buffer period will not have audio, he said.
“Deputies can activate it whenever they feel it may be necessary,” Timmins said. “But also the policy says that they must activate it prior to any enforcement activity or prior to any call for service.”
In July, the county’s Board of Supervisors approved funding for the $12.7 million program, with the money spread out over five years.
The Sheriff’s Department will be the first in the region to use the newest generation of Axon cameras, which have higher-definition footage and will provide a clearer picture. The department did a pilot program with Axon in 2018, when 20 deputies wore the cameras for a few months.
Axon cameras have been used in other county law enforcement agencies as well.
Source: Orange County Register
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