When do you use the body cameras? When don’t you use them? Where’s the footage stored?
Those questions answered this week in the Goshen Police Department in regards to body cameras, which have been in use in the department for years. The Goshen Board of Works approved a policy governing the use of body cameras, according to the Elkhart Truth.
The idea behind the policy is to not have an officer second-guessing when to turn the cameras on or off in the line of duty.
So when are they to be on?
- During traffic stops
- Emergency responses to calls for servce
- Any time emergency lights are used outside of basic traffic control
- During citizen contacts
- Any arrest or detention
- Vehicle pursuits
- Serving a warrant, either search or arrest
- Conducting property and personal searches
- Transporting an arrestee or detained person
- When ordered by a high-ranking officer
- During crowd control events like riots or mass arrest incidents (unless told otherwise by incident commander)
Besides that, officers will have discretion on when to turn the cameras on and off in other events, like meeting confidential informants and when on guard duty.
For a complete run-down of regulations the officers in Goshen must follow, click here.
