Transparency, accountability and trust. These actions are what the Lompoc Police Department hopes to accomplish with the execution of their new police body cameras.
The police department announced the purchase of about 55 body cameras that officers, detectives, command staff, and jailers will now wear while on duty.
KSBY spoke with Lompoc Police Chief Kevin Martin, who broke down how these cameras work.
After several weeks of training, each officer is equipped with a camera. These cameras are connected to high-tech air-based technology, which equips the cameras with several features, such as blurring faces, license plates, and even translating English into Spanish if needed.
The camera storage is also cloud-based, which Chief Martin hopes will help keep the officers in the field, and help them move quickly with their cases.
"So moving forward from here, what we're looking for is to use the technology to make our officers more efficient. We're looking at a better success rate in court and better evidence as we move forward with the different cases we are facing," said Chief Martin.
Ultimately, Chief Martin hopes this will help the department be more clear and open with the community. "It's complete transparency and that's really what this is about."
Once an officer exits his patrol car he must turn on his camera for the interaction. The department will maintain that video for 90 days. Unless there is a reason that interaction rises to an investigative level and is tagged by an officer, that video will be automatically removed from the system. Along with the body cameras, the department is upgrading its in-car camera systems.
"We're going to have from the time they respond to the incident until the time they make the arrest. You put them in the back of the car. We have cameras in the back seats. So you're recording whatever's happening in the back seat. You come into the jail and you hand off the arrestee to the jailer. They now have body cams on them so that we have the arrest station and booking. We will have video through that whole process," said Chief Martin.
KSBY reached out to all law enforcement offices on the Central Coast and now that the Lompoc Police officers have body cameras, every agency in both San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County has officers equipped with body cameras.
The funding to purchase the cameras and the proper technology to operate them was provided by efforts from Congressman Salud Carbajal's Office and a grant from One 805.
