Benton County Public Safety Environmental Division gets new body, dash cams
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The Environmental Division of Benton County Public Safety received three new body and three dash cameras in February.
“The upgrade for the dash cameras were desperately needed because we only had one dash camera in our three vehicles actually operational,” Environmental Director for the Environmental Division of Benton County Public Safety Teresa Sidwell said. “They’re more up to date with technology from the other ones that we’re getting to be close to eight to 10 years old.”
Sidwell says the cameras they recently had were getting old and kept having to be repaired.
The division received a grant from the Arkansas Department of Public Safety for $38,000 in January to help fund the new equipment.
They also received a new tablet, a five-year contract, and a cloud system to store all of the secured videos through the grant.
“So the taxpayers didn’t have to front the money for that,” Senior Officer Tim Filbeck said.
The dash cameras record everything that goes on in front of the vehicle.
“It automatically comes on with the blue lights or we can manually turn it on as well. It records all the time but just doesn’t create a file for it until an emergency occurs. So, if we were involved in an auto accident, then it would automatically catch that on film,” Filbeck said.
Filbeck says the new cameras have been outstanding so far.
“This was an upgraded model from the ones that we had previously. It has been so much better for the officer,” Filbeck said.
With the old system, officers had to pull their cards out and download the video or wait for their body camera footage to upload in the office.
But now, they can do it anywhere.
“You can upload your videos from home. And it doesn’t cost any extra overtime. It’s no stress on the officer,” Filbeck said.
Their old dash camera system also did not include GPS coordinates or the speed of the vehicle.
Filbeck says the public has the right to have answers and know what an officer is doing and how fast he’s driving.
“They may think that he’s driving carelessly and you can either substantiate it or you could dismiss it because it’s right there on the screen telling you how fast that officer is going,” Filbeck said.
There are a lot of new features in the body cameras.
In a distressful situation, officers can press a button on their radio and their division commander will get an alert and will be able to watch what’s happening through their body cam.
“She can give updates to dispatch and let the dispatchers know so that responding units can know what’s going on. If somebody has pulled a gun or something like that, especially if an officer has gotten knocked unconscious, then it will make that alert as well,” Filbeck said. “Plus the other officers that are wearing the exact same body cameras get an alert. That officer had something go wrong and we can see where they’re at and we can respond to their location,” Filbeck said.
Filbeck says one of the tools that’s helpful for them is their new tablet.
Before, they had to take the tape, put it in the office, and that was the end of it until court.
“But now when an officer goes back and has to do his report, he can actually, through a tablet that they give us, can watch the video so that he can write his report out, exactly as it happened,” Filbeck said. “He’s not having to remember what was it that they said and look through a notebook. You got it right then and there and you can keep playing it back over and over until you get exactly what happened.”
Officers can use a push-to-talk feature where they can communicate in real-time.
They can also livestream through their body camera which will be available to the public if requested through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“We want to be transparent with the public and let them know that we’re out there to help them and protect them,” Sidwell said.
She says videos will never be changed and some videos may not be shared if they were recorded in a restricted area.
“Let’s say the officer forgot to turn his camera off and went to the restroom or something. We don’t want to share that with the public that things like that would be restricted,” Sidwell said.
Sidwell says having these features will help in dangerous situations like if someone pulls out a weapon.
“We would want to make other law enforcement aware and be able to help back up our officers,” Sidwell said.
She feels like residents will support officers wearing body cameras and having dash cameras because they provide two perspectives of every situation.
“It has two perspectives: you see one perspective from the dash camera and another completely different perspective using a body-worn camera. It’s more transparent,” Sidwell said.
She says people act differently when they know they’re being recorded.
“I think that people want to show their best side when they are aware that they’re being recorded. So I think that it’s really good for the public and the officers as well,” Sidwell said.
Filbeck says the new cameras will hold every officer accountable and make sure they’re following the right procedures on how to do things.
“Hopefully the public is going to feel safer knowing that the actions that the officers are taking are being recorded and are part of the evidence that will be there virtually forever,” Filbeck said.
Sidwell says as part of their project goals, they will also be increasing knowledge and training across the state by creating a Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training (CLEST) approved course and promoting the use of body-worn and in-car cameras by other law enforcement agencies in northwest Arkansas by hosting a training event that will take place this year.
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