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Elwood Police Department is first in Indiana to use video-mic body cams

Posted at 3:44 PM, Oct 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-06 15:44:42-04

ELWOOD, Ind. -- A small police department in Madison County is the first in Indiana to use new state of the art video-mic devices.

They are a body camera, an audio/video recorder and a police radio.

All 18 police officers in Elwood have been outfitted with the devices and have been using them since the first of September. 

The department is hoping to improve safety, efficiency and accountability with the cameras since they are always recording.

"If something were to happen, I would flip up this lever and that allows us to actually tag this as an incident. So any contact we have with citizens that can be generated as a case or an incident, we turn those on," Officer Jerry Branson, Elwood Police.

Video from the devices is stored in the cloud and uploaded at when an officer is done with their shift.

It's helping to train officers and providing an insurance policy to ensure they are staying within the framework of the law.

"Police officers are always getting some grief from different people and accountability is one thing that everybody wants out of their police departments and transparency," said Chief Jason Brizendine, Elwood Police.

The City of Elwood paid $100,000 for a five-year contract for the devices and secure storage.

In the future, the vid-mic's will be integrated so begin recording any time an officer reaches for a gun or taser.

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