MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota university is testing body cameras on its police officers for the next two months.
The University of Minnesota Police Department started giving officers tester body cameras June 14, the Minnesota Daily (https://bit.ly/2sSQ0PI ) reported.
The university’s Twin Cities, Duluth and Morris campuses are each testing different camera brands, said University Police Department Chief Matt Clark. Brands in consideration include Axon, Motorola, Panasonic and WatchGuard.
One of the most important variables when considering different brands is the supporting software system, Lieutenant Erik Swanson said. The cameras themselves are very similar, but the corresponding data networks can range in storage, accessibility and user-friendliness.
State statutes enacted in Aug. 2016 classified most police body camera recordings as nonpublic, which made the department more comfortable using the technology, Clark said.
“As you can expect, we had a lot of people who were not suspects, who may be students, that we didn’t want internalized on video doing things that weren’t necessarily criminal, but didn’t paint them in the best light,” he said.
The current funding for the tester cameras is from a one-time allotment from the university’s budget, said interim vice president of University Services Mike Berthelsen.
“A growing percent of Twin Cities’ larger agencies were looking at doing this, so we felt like it was time for us to answer, ’well, should that be us too? Does that make sense for our campus?’” he said.
The department will have to apply for long term funding in 2018 if they decide to keep the cameras, Berthelsen said.
The department already has similar cameras on police cars. The Twin Cities campus uses almost 2,500 stationary security cameras.
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Information from: The Minnesota Daily, https://www.mndaily.com/
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