WASHINGTON — Nearly every one of Montgomery County鈥檚 uniformed police officers now wears a body camera. Those cameras capture an average of 1,350 recordings a day — if the officers flip the switch.
鈥淔or the past year鈥� it鈥檚 been a struggle to remember to turn it on,鈥� said Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger.
He and some of his top aides briefed members of the County Council鈥檚 Public Safety Committee on the progress 鈥� and the costs 鈥� of the department鈥檚 body camera program. The committee chair is impressed.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a time where the public trust in the police is not at its highest point,鈥� said Marc Elrich. 鈥淗aving these cameras increases the public trust.鈥�
The program costs the department about $1聽million a year, even though the cameras themselves run only about $80 each. The rest of the money goes to licensing, encryption, redacting videos that are made public, and the biggest and perhaps most overlooked factor: storage.
鈥淪torage is the elephant in the room. We鈥檙e storing about four terabits a month right now. [And] I鈥檇 expect storage to increase,鈥� said Elrich.
The department is currently storing a total of about 63 terabits of video, since current policy mandates that every recording be preserved for at least seven months.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping we can get more clarity on how long we have to keep records. For 90 percent of the stops they do, holding the (videos) for seven months is probably excessive,鈥� he said.
Elrich is encouraged by the department鈥檚 belief that storage costs will come down over the five-year run of the current hardware contract. But another big cost comes when members of the public request videos. Every person who is caught on camera but not part of the incident must be redacted in what鈥檚 now a labor-intensive, frame-by-frame process.
The good news, says Elrich: There aren鈥檛 that many public requests鈥� a testament to the department.
鈥淚f the police were really bad, you鈥檇 expect a lot more requests for footage,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e not getting that.鈥�
Elrich adds that the cost of the police body camera program may be high, but it鈥檚 money well spent, resulting in more convictions, quickly resolved disputes and all-around improved clarity.
鈥淥nce you鈥檝e got a video camera, what was said was said; what was done was done. Not a whole lot of room for denying what鈥檚 in front of you.鈥�
