LOCKPORT, N.Y. — It was last month when a Lockport man died during a scuffle with police officers outside his mom's home. In response to what happened, the interim police chief wants to make some changes when it comes to body cameras.
Each officer on Lockport's police force has a body camera. They were issued in 2015.
"What's the protocol?" asked 2 On Your Side’s Kelly Dudzik.
"The officers are required to wear them, and they have to wear them on traffic stops. They should be activating them, and they're encouraged to use them on other types of calls like a use of force," said Lockport Interim Police Chief Steve Preisch.
"But it's not required," said Dudzik.
"It's not required. They are encouraged to do it if they can turn them on safely, and that's an important word. Because a lot of times, you don't step into a call thinking it's going to become a volatile call," said Preisch.
After the death of Troy Hodge, people showed up to the common council meeting with questions about that protocol.
"We took a lot of criticism for the lack of body camera footage just in general. So I took what I heard, I went back, and I reviewed our policy," Preisch said. "I looked at our system, and I said, I can't change anything that occurred, but moving forward, I can try to improve the way we do business."
Preisch says new cameras with new technology would help. His first concern is finding a better way to secure them to uniforms. The new cameras also automatically activate if an officer pulls out a taser, gun, or turns on emergency lights.
Preisch says battery life and storage issues would also be resolved by buying forty new cameras.
“It's about, over five years, this company charges you about $160,000," explained Preisch.
"Does that include storage?" asked Dudzik.
"Yes. There's a big upfront cost, and it's broken in the next four years. It's about $16,000 a year, so total is about $160,000, but that's over a five-year period," Preisch said.
Preisch’s next step is to bring his plan before the common council. He's working on his budget for next year, and he's going to try to budget for the new cameras. He says they will also look into other funding sources, including grants.
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