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2019 Annual Report • Police Department • St. Anthony Village, Minnesota <br /> <br /> <br />37 | Page <br /> <br />XIII. Body Worn Camera Program (BWC) <br />PREPARED BY CAPTAIN JEFF SPIESS <br />The year 2019 marked the first full calendar year of full implementation of the St. Anthony <br />Police Department’s Body Worn Camera (BWC) program, in which a policy had been <br />established, all personnel trained in the use of a BWC, and the infrastructure was in place to <br />properly store the camera data. The program began in 2017 following the award of a federal <br />grant through the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), which partially funded the <br />program. The use of the BWCs have been embraced by all of the officers and their use has been <br />very successful for the department. <br />A common misconception with any BWC program is that it is as simple as <br />issuing cameras to police officers in the field and having them record <br />their daily interactions with the public. While it sounds simple in <br />theory, there is a significant amount of background work that must be <br />accomplished prior to this happening. One of the first steps the St. <br />Anthony Police Department and City Officials took was finding a way to <br />fund a program of this size, which for many small agencies, can be very <br />difficult. We collaborated with a neighboring agency, the Roseville Police Department, on <br />economies of scale and applied for a grant through the DOJ to fund half of the project. Upon <br />being awarded the grant, the department collaborated with DOJ officials in policy development <br />and reported quarterly on our product selection process and other reporting requirements as <br />outlined in the grant. The St. Anthony Police Department was one of the first grant recipients in <br />the nation to have our policy reviewed and accepted. <br />The police department also sought community input during the policy development phase, <br />along with seeking perspectives from various stakeholders both inside and outside of St. <br />Anthony. Some of these included domestic abuse advocacy groups, mental health advocacy <br />groups, city and county attorneys, and the St. Anthony-New Brighton School District. The <br />department also formed the Tri-City Workgroup, made up of appointed residents and city <br />council liaisons, who convened to review current police policies and protocols, best practices <br />and trends, and policy development, in order to present recommendations to the Chief of Police <br />for the drafting of a BWC policy.