Washington may spend ARPA money on body cams

Washington Police Chief Jim Lester made a $20,344 request to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) on new body cameras for the department.

“Our body cameras are probably one of the most essential pieces of equipment we have,” Lester said at a council meeting Tuesday night. “I’ve talked with some of you about options in the last three or four months about some of the issues we’ve been having. I know we were up to $70,000 at one point, we’ve got it down to 20.”

The department’s current cameras have a range of problems, including tedious and unoptimized file storage, outdated software, a lack of redaction capabilities and several opportunities for human error. Lester said the new equipment could correct all of that.

“The body camera would be put in a docking station in the car, and when the car pulls up to the city police department, it’ll automatically upload to the cloud,” he said. “There’s an audit trail of who viewed it … the county attorney’s office has access to the system … There’s an auto-deletion system based on department policy … and the moment they activate their emergency lights, the bodycam would turn on. So you don’t have that worry of ‘Oh, I forgot to turn my bodycam on.’”

The over $20,000 price tag would cover all the equipment necessary: 13 body-worn cameras, docking stations and charging cables, Bluetooth connections, an in-car video system, and a one-time deployment fee. Lester said the cameras would come with future expense of nearly $6,000 every year to cover licensing, software, and storage.

“I feel good about the sticker price, I don’t love the ongoing sticker price of $6,000 a year in perpetuity,” Mayor Jaron Rosien said. “But more so now than ever, it’s necessary to have effective bodycam footage for any police department.”

While Lester’s proposition would only pay for one car camera, replacing others gradually with new vehicles over the next three years, Council Member Danielle Pettit-Majewski pitched replacing all of the vehicle equipment all at once.

“If we have one car that has one process and the other cars that have another process, you kind of lose some of that efficiency,” she said. “I’m sure you probably can’t believe that it’s me saying this, but I think that if we’re looking at how (we’re) going to use one-time money effectively, then I think that we need to be thinking about what it would cost to do it all.”

Lester said that would bring the total up to five car camera replacements, but that cost arrangements with the vendor were not yet finalized.

While Lester pitched the purchase as a use of ARPA funds, City Finance Director Kelsey Brown said there were other possible avenues to pay for the gear.

“We are going out for a bond issue here in the near future, and part of that bond issue is already going to be replacing our equipment, so we could add that cost onto that,” she said. “Another option, I think, that would be a good consideration, would be our local-option sales tax fund. 75% of that is for public safety … I’m not sure quite where we’ll end up by the end of this year on those funds.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com