The Yazoo City Police Department is the latest Mississippi law enforcement agency to incorporate high tech equipment.
Officers now wearing the Pileum body cameras, which can record their movements on patrol.
Chief Ron Sampson said, “If we have a major incident it will record the incident itself. We can go back and look at it. Another thing is you have a complaint someone says an officer was acting improper being true or not we have that footage to go back and look at.”
Integrated with cameras in the squad cars, the officers are also tracked with GPS. Whenever they open their door to do a traffic stop, the cameras come on, recording their interaction with citizens.
Sampson said,”If you fire your weapon the camera will automatically activate so if an officer is in a situation and has to use his weapon and isn’t able to call out for help the unit will activate the camera and sent out an alert.”
The camera system cost the city $77,000. The video is stored in the cloud where it can be accessed, viewed and downloaded later. A digital tool that city leaders say will make officers more accountable.
“Good bad or ugly we just have to face the truth sometimes things happen that we have to have an accurate account for be it for the officer be it for the citizen, this is the way to do it,” said Chief Sampson.
Article Source: MS News Now