It's about the size of a hand and attaches to each Lansing Police Officer's uniform by a magnet.
"To record, I just double click the large button in the front. Now, I'm recording. At the end of a call ... I just simply hold this for three seconds and the camera shuts off," explained Officer Matt Salmon, a 14-year veteran of the Department.
The body cameras are an added tool Chief Yankowski says will serve as great evidence for officers, prosecutors and defense attorneys.
He explained, "It's not always going to tell the entire story, but it's gonna give a good picture of what happened. That independent witness of that event, it's gonna create more accountability and transparency, not only for the police officers, but for the citizen contacts."
Plus, he added, the captured footage will validate the current work of his officers and help them improve.
"Very similar to what you see in athletics when they go back and review the video tape of a practice or game, we'll have that same capability to help train our officers for future incidents," the Chief said.
Officer Salmon participated in the pilot program last year and told Fox 47 News that the added technology is helpful.
"Not only with our day to day routine, but also with our report writing, as well. As we can go back and review the material as we write our report," he explained. "It's just another set of eyes, so every time we're on a call, there's just another view of that."
But, the cameras won't always be recording.
The Chief explained, "For example, when an officer is investigating or interviewing a victim of a sexual assault or we have sensitive information with a confident informant, a neighborhood leader that wants to provide some information. They gotta have that ability to go off camera with the police officer and share that information."
More than half of the officers have been trained on the policies and procedures on when to turn them on and off and how to use the technology.
A pilot program tested three different body cameras, but after that and two years of research, the Chief chose Taser Axon for a number of reasons.
He said the biggest was the cost. The camera and cloud-based storage cost $181,000. And, the company will replace the equipment with updated versions every two and a half years.
When it comes to storage, the Department has a specific plan in place.
Most recordings will be held for 30 days, unless an officer tags it for a specific reason. Videos of traffic stops will be deleted after 90 days. Any video of a specific criminal case will be held for 42 months under state law. And, footage related to a homicide will never be deleted.
With a larger volume of video to handle, the Department is adding man-hours. The part-time Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Coordinator position is now full time, so that person has more time to delete things like innocent bystanders, juveniles and license plates from the video when requests for copies are made.
