More than a half-century ago (1969),The Rolling Stone wrote “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, (but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need). That was long before Minneapolis, Portland, Kenosha, Lancaster, and Naperville, etc. Sometimes what you want, and what you need, are the same thing.
The police are under attack, which means law abiding citizens are under attack, not only by anarchists, but also the people and groups that you would think would be supporting law and order, including some governors, mayors, city councils, prosecutors, corporations, etc. who actively support de-funding the police. The police are the last organized line of defense, defending law and order, without which we disintegrate as a country. If that ‘blueline’ disappears, we are all on our own defending life and property.
If there is one expense that Naperville city officials need to support, it’s the Naperville Police Department (NPD), and the second one is the Naperville Fire Department (NFD). Simply put, without those heros we are screwed. Leaf pick-up, festivals, snow removal, fire works, bus service, and downtown street Christmas decorations become inconsequential if not meaningless.
The Naperville Police Department, under the leadership of Chief of Police Robert Marshall, has proposed in the 2021 police department budget, approval to research purchasing body cameras, to support and document police officers’ actions while answering calls and initiating arrests.
If city officials, including the Naperville city council don’t put a high priority on this, then how quickly they have forgotten the rioting this summer in downtown Naperville, which included smashed windows, looting, and injuries.
To better understand what police officers have to do, every member of the Naperville city council, including the city manager, needs to participate in the NPD’s Citizen Police Academy. They need to get an idea of what it’s like pulling a vehicle over at 2 am, or going out on a call for domestic violence, or doing the “Shoot, Don’t-Shoot drill”.
The police and fire department need the support of residents and local government officials. Yes, it’s an expense, however consider the alternative, Kenosha, Lancaster, Portland, Seattle, etc.
You can buy good police body cameras for about $250 a piece. We have approx. 100 policemen. 25K is a rounding error in Naperville’s annual budget.
Instead of giving our money away to social organization (aka buying votes) equip these folks with the cameras and get on with it.
I agree! Well said City Council Watchdog AND Gerry! EXACTLY!
Actually part of the the “Defund Police” movements priorities is to make sure all police officers have these type of cameras. So the city providing the funds to purchase these cameras is something everyone seems to be able to agree on.
It should be noted that the reason the police in Kenosha did not have these cameras is not because they could not afford them. It was because these cameras are connected to a privately owned server that stores the video they take. And the fee per camera for this required service is something like $300/month, which the city of Kenosha could not afford.
Yes these camera should be considered essential but they are not cheap. They are propriety hardware, running propriety software connected to a propriety server system and this translates to very expensive.
These devices do not have to be WIFI compatible and can use flash disks which can be downloaded at the HQ. daily, weekly or as needed. You only turn them on when interacting with people or criminal events like riots. This would eliminate all the needless expense described.
The problem with the type of cameras you describe is they are susceptible to tampering, which basically nullifies their major purpose.