2018 St. Anthony PD Annual Report

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2018 Annual Report • Police Department • St. Anthony Village, Minnesota 34 | P a g e XIII. Body Worn Camera Program (BWC) PREPARED BY CHIEF JON MANGSETH January of 2018 marked the beginning of the police department’s development and implementation of a police officer Body Worn Camera (BWC) program. The St. Anthony Police Department (SAPD) committed to BWC Policy Development (2017) and the development of a Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program (PIP) (2018) with the hope and intention of reducing complaints against officers, enhancing evidence collection in order to improve the adjudication process, and building trust and increasing legitimacy in the communities we serve. The use of BWC’s in law enforcement is relatively new in Minnesota. The primary purpose of using BWC’s is to capture evidence arising from police-citizen encounters. While this technology allows for the collection of valuable information, it opened up many questions about how to balance public demands for accountability and transparency with the privacy concerns of those being recorded. As an agency, we must strictly adhere to MN State Statute as it applies to law enforcement agencies that utilize portable recording systems for use in investigations, or in response to emergencies, incidents, and requests for service. In deciding what to record, policy must strike a balance between the desire to establish exacting and detailed requirements for BWC use and the reality that officers must attend to their primary duties and the safety of all concerned, often in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving. Community-Oriented Policing (COP), as defined by the Department of Justice (DOJ) is “...a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.”1 COP is a defining philosophy of the SAPD, is a lens through which all policing activities and strategies must pass, and the department strongly believes in the current research that shows that a BWC PIP supports a healthy COP approach. 1 U.S. Department of Justice/Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (2014). Community Policing Defined. Washington, DC.