Fresno police to get 100 wearable cameras

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno police can now show what it's like to be on the job. The department is getting 100 new "body cameras."

Five officers assigned to the homeless task force have been wearing the cameras for the past year. Officer Robert Dewey likes having a camera providing video evidence of how he is doing his job.

Officer Dewey said, "I know that everything I am going to do will be captured so that makes me feel more secure."

Because of the apparent success of having the five body cams, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer persuaded the city council to let him buy 100 more cameras at a cost of around $160 thousand.

Dyer told Action News, "We believe it is ultimately going to be a tool that enhances trust of our community when people know we are recording incidents and recording our own behavior that has to show transparency and breed trust in our community and that is our ultimate goal."

The camera can be worn on a collar, or attached to sun glasses, or be hand held.

They record all of the time, but the video is only saved when the officer taps a button. The previous 30 seconds before the tap is also saved. The video is uploaded to a cloud system, and cannot be erased by the officer. The chief believes the cameras will keep officers and potential suspects from over reacting.

Chief Dyer said, "Body cameras or any type of camera has a tendency to modify behavior people that may be emotionally charged when they know they are being recorded may calm down and I believe it's going to have a good deterrent effect in terms of personnel complaints."

The order for the 100 cameras has been placed. Chief Dyer hopes to eventually have all of the more than 700 officers wearing them.