Some departments fall behind as police bodycam use increases
ALLENDALE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The use of body cameras in law enforcement has increased significantly in the past several years, including in departments in West Michigan.
“For many years, members of our community really weren’t interested in speaking with anyone from our police department that had body-worn cameras,” said Chief Brandon DeHaan, director of public safety at Grand Valley State University. “In 2020 with the murder of George Floyd, that changed a lot of things within the communities.”
GVSU has had a robust security system in place since 2018, but with increased calls for transparency and accountability, decided to explore the idea of implementing body-worn cameras (BWCs). DeHaan said University President Philomena Mantella put together a network of advisors to discuss topics surrounding public safety.
“I put on a presentation but more importantly we had a listening tour. Part of that listening tour was a series of questions that we asked and that included asking questions about how does public safety interact with the community? How does the community feel about public safety? And while we had very positive reviews, we also posed a question in relationship to, ‘Would you like public safety officers to wear body worn cameras?'” DeHaan explained.
The results showed 57% of the community requested the department use BWC, so he brought the idea to his accreditation sergeant, Brian Hedberg.
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“I felt very strongly about getting body worn cameras,” Hedberg said. “I think in the climate where we’re at today, we saw a lot of law enforcement agencies going with body cameras and I supported the decision.”
Hedberg was in charge of making sure officers got trained so the department could have cameras ready to go by move-in day last fall.
“Each officer, prior to wearing a body-worn camera, has to complete the training conducted by Motorola, which is an hour long video for the usage of this and then there is another hour long video for the system behind it because once you learn how to use the body camera you have to learn how to upload all the evidence and then you have to learn how to access it,” Hedberg explained.
Hedberg added that GVSU is currently the only university of higher education in Michigan with (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies), which is considered the nation’s gold standard in public safety. That requires officers to follow certain policy standards such as when they can and cannot turn a camera off. Officers are required to activate the camera anytime they interact with the community and it needs to remain on through the entire interaction.
“If an officer chooses to turn off a body-worn camera at an inappropriate time, there’s a very good chance that they’ll be internally investigated, and it will be handled within the department,” the sergeant said.
The overall response from officers and the community in the first six months of use has very positive, Hedberg said.
“I think that the body-worn cameras are a great transparency tool to show the public that we are doing the right thing and also to just help with very good overall transparency within the department.”
As many agencies move to utilize that tool, some are still falling behind. In 2021, of 14 sheriff’s offices in West Michigan, five had body cameras for deputies. In just three years, that number has increased to nine.
Below is a list of sheriff’s offices that use BWC as of March 21:
Allegan County Sheriff’s Office
Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office
Ionia County Sheriff’s Office
Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office
Kent County Sheriff’s Office
Muskegon County Sheriff’s Office
Newaygo County Sheriff’s Office
St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Office
Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office
As of March 21, The following offices do not use BWC:
Barry County Sheriff’s Office
Branch County Sheriff’s Office
Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office
Oceana County Sheriff’s Office
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office
U.S. census data shows out of Michigan’s ten most populous counties, Ottawa remains among the fastest growing, yet the sheriff’s office is now the only agency in the county that does not use body cameras. Holland, Grand Haven, Zeeland and GVSU all use them.
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When Sheriff Steve Kempker was elected in 2016, he said he wanted bodycams in place by the following year. When News 8 requested an interview to get an update on the project, a department spokesperson wrote, “There really isn’t much of an update other than we are working on the project. It is a large project.”
Kempker contacted News 8 after the story aired Thursday night.
“The project is well underway and budget dollars are in place from the county, we just completed the (request for proposal) and had vendors in to do the presentations. We will be selecting a vendor shortly for body and in car cams,” Kempker wrote in a statement. “Once that is done the system build will start which for us is county wide … We are also in the process of hiring personnel to handle the (Freedom of Information Act) and system management.”
The sheriff’s offices that do not use BWC have in-car dash cameras, but none mentioned immediate plans to implement body cameras except Branch County Sheriff John Pollack. He wrote that the department is working to bring in more deputies, which does not leave them in a financial position to purchase cameras.
“They are a priority and we will continue to request funding to purchase camera and all their amenities again next year,” Pollack wrote.
For GVSU police, it’s been a positive addition.
“The officers feel really good wearing it because it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re doing the right thing and we’re more than happy to show you we’re doing the right thing,'” Hedberg said.
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