Fox Chapel police to add more body cameras to their equipment stock

The Fox Chapel police will soon have body cameras available for all officers.

Council unanimously voted on Sept. 19 to buy five, new, body-worn cameras from Motorola Solutions for $15,695 to be added to the six body-worn cameras and four in-car cameras the borough began using in July. Council also voted to pay Motorola Solutions $60,016 the company for that earlier purchase.

Police Chief Michael Stevens said the borough adopted a police camera policy in June.

The additional body cameras will allow each officer to have his or her own camera. In-car cameras were installed in patrol cars. The purchase came from the police department budget.

“It videos the calls and the interactions with the public in real time,” Stevens said. “It helps with investigations.”

The department got quotes from three companies. Motorola provided the lowest quote, and officials said they thought it provided the best product.

Officer Tom Duffy has been with Fox Chapel since 2012. He worked in Blawnox prior to coming to Fox Chapel.

Duffy said this is the first year in his career that he has worn a body camera.

“They are an essential tool that we need in today’s world of policing,” Duffy said. “We do need them now.”

Stevens said the borough is using a model policy for camera use provided through the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office.

It requires police officers to wear body cameras for their entire shift and maintain them in working order, according to DA documents.

When a camera is activated to record an incident, “it shall not be deactivated until the incident has been completed, unless otherwise authorized per policy,” documents read.

Officers shall not remove, dismantle, or tamper with any hardware or software component or part associated with the body cameras.

Police are not to erase, destroy, disseminate, edit, alter or otherwise use body camera recordings without the written permission of the police chief. Incidents on the tape can be located and marked so they can be used in court.

Stevens said the new cameras are being manufactured and may be received within the next two months.