Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
The Post - Athens, OH
The independent newspaper covering campus and community since 1911.
The Post
APD cruisers are parked at the department's headquarters. (FILE)

Athens police chief will ask for body cameras despite tight budget

The Athens Police Department didn't receive funding for several budget requests this year, but officials will still consider funding body cameras.

APD Chief Tom Pyle said he hopes city council will appropriate money for the body cameras. He said the cost of cameras would be about $100,000 over five years. 

The city did not fund the department's requests for vehicles, computers and a server replacement this year for APD. Pyle said the body cameras are not accounted for in APD's current budget.  

“I think they would be beneficial,” Pyle said. “The vast majority of the time it would be a benefit to our agency.”

He said his main concern for the body cameras is the cost. The total budget for APD this year is about $5 million. About half of that, $2.5 million, is budgeted to wages. 

"My concern has always been a cost versus benefit issue," Pyle said. "I feel that the cameras will benefit the police department and will help us get a better conviction rate and will protect our officers in the field."

Pyle said APD will not receive a new vehicle, which would cost about $40,000. APD usually receives about one new vehicle per year but will not this year because no money was budgeted for vehicles. He said he will ask for money for the cameras anyway. 

"I simply want the mayor and council to know that if the money is there, I’m willing to implement the (cameras)," Pyle said. "If the council decides that the budget isn’t there and we can’t do this, we will request it again next year and the year after that." 

He is pushing for the body cameras because they are another form of evidence collection for officers. He said people sometimes fabricate stories and file complaints against officers, and body cameras are a form of evidence that could help discredit the complaints. 

“I’ve heard over and over and over again information from other chiefs that have from other agencies that have instituted (body cameras) that have saved officers from complaints,” Pyle said.

At-Large City Councilman Pat McGee, I, said body cameras may be expensive, but he is looking for cheaper options, such as small cameras that clip onto glasses. 

“Both the mayor and I, and perhaps the chief attended a seminar in Columbus in the fall, in which the issue was presented — and some much less expensive options were portrayed,” McGee said in an email.

Athens Mayor Steve Patterson said he is not opposed to APD officers using body cameras, but there are still logistical issues. One of those is the amount of information that the city would have to redact from video footage for legal reasons. 

“We’ve had to look at the issue of storage, the issue of how much time a patrol officer needs to sit down at a docking station and download data and also attach metadata to it," Patterson said.

Patterson said he thinks the city could appropriate money to APD for body cameras "very soon."

“We have had conversations with the auditor’s office that we think what it will cost the city moving forward is a manageable cost,” Patterson said. 

@AshtonNichols_

an614816@ohio.edu

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2016-2024 The Post, Athens OH