The Daytona Beach Police Department wants to add 80 more body cameras to its force.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood is asking for federal money for the cameras. If the department doesn't receive the grant, the city commission will provide him with about 50 cameras.
The Daytona Beach Police Department went from having 22 to 112 body cameras in about three years. Chitwood said he would like to equip all of his officers with cameras because of their proven success. For example, he said in 2013 there were more than 50 complaints against officers. In 2014, there were only seven.
“One of our biggest selling points was that if you look at the 5, 10, $15,000 lawsuits that we settle, the system would pay for itself," said Chitwood.
Another big selling point is how the footage can help both sides in court cases. Body camera footage from the case against former NFL player Jermaine Green in 2013 helped prosecutors secure a guilty verdict against Green. Officers were called to the house and shot him as he was about to stab his girlfriend. There was public outcry because the public said officers shot an unarmed man and took 20 minutes to respond to the scene.
“In reality, they got there within two minutes of the call being dispatched and when you watch the video you can see he is not unarmed because he’s got the knife in ready to plunge it into her chest,” said Chitwood.
Training Officer Donald Rininger was one of the first officers to test the equipment in the department. He said the cameras allow the officer to record what is happening at every angle. Rininger also said the camera records 30 seconds before it turns on and can hold up to 14 hours of video. Police officers are not able to edit or delete raw video.
The Daytona Beach Police Department hopes to receive the new body cameras by the end of 2015.