Vincennes Police Department upgrades its body cameras

Vincennes Police Department upgrades its body cameras

In recent in recent weeks..

There has been debate over police reform.

The vincennes police department has taken new steps to keep its officers accountable.

News 10 bureau chief gary brian tells us more about the department's updated body cameras.

Gar} "when chief robert dunham took the role as vincennes police chief he found that the station's body cameras were in need of an overhaul.

Now months later that overhaul has finally come."

The overhaul accounts for 40 new body cameras.

That covers every single officer at the department.

Dunham says the upgrade was desperately needed.

"not all of them were functioning.

Not all officers had them.

And the ones that did have them the battery packs were overheating and swelling up."

The vincennes university police department uses the particular brand.

It was there dunham found out about them.

He says all forty cameras cost less than thirty thousand dollars.

"since we've got them back out we've had one officer who was vindicated.

Somebody complained on him, the way he was treated, and when i look at the video footage he couldn't have been any more cordiual."

Now every officer has a body camera to record every interaction.

Dunham says this helps not just the officer but the public.

"what body cameras do is they keep both the citizens and the officers on their toes to be courteous and not get kind of irate."

Gar} "funding for the cameras came from money collected from city violations.

Working from home in vincennes, gary brian news 10."