By KEVIN NEVERS
The Chesterton Town Council has approved the purchase of a body and in-car camera system for use by CPD officers.
At their meeting Monday night, members voted unanimously to approve a resolution authorizing a “special purchase” of the system–Bodyworn by Utility Associates Inc.–under Indiana Code 5-22-10.
Total cost over five years: $212,900.
The resolution was necessary so as to exempt the CPD from going out to bid, Associate Town Attorney Julie Paulson explained, after Police Chief Dave Cincoski determined that the Bodyworn system “costs much less than competing systems and has a much higher functionality.” Paulson noted in particular that one of those competing systems would cost the town an additional $347,000 over five years for the same electronic storage offered by Bodyworn.
Cincoski told members that, though in-car camera systems have been in use for quite some time, the tech has recently “vastly improved.” Body cams, on the other hand, are relatively new–in use for some three to five years–and until now, Cincoski said, he’s been content to take a wait-and-see approach to their acquisition.
Member Emerson DeLaney, R-5th–and the council’s liaison to the CPD–attended a demo of the Bodyworn system in January. “This body cam by far is head and shoulders above the rest,” he told his colleagues.
“I read your report and it looks like it’s a lot better than the other two systems,” agreed Member Dane Lafata, D-3rd.
Cincoski noted that funds for the acquisition have already been budgeted and will come out of a couple of different line items: Radio/Communications and Training.
At its meeting last week, the Police Commission endorsed a new Standard Operating Procedure governing the use of body and in-car cameras, as reported in detailed by theChesterton Tribune in its Friday, Feb. 8, edition.
Source: Chesterton Tribune