LADY LAKE, Fla. – There are very few law enforcement agencies in Central Florida that still do not use body-worn cameras.
The Lady Lake Police Department was one of them until newly-appointed Chief Steve Hunt changed that almost as soon as he took over a year ago.
He also upped the officers’ salaries by 36% to bring them in line with the surrounding agencies. Hunt said it was difficult to fill long-vacant positions and attract qualified candidates.
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And just as quickly, Hunt upgraded officers’ tasers and dashboard cameras.
“The department was somewhat behind the times,” Hunt said. “We were not up to current best practices in law enforcement for the day that we live in. No body cameras, outdated dash cameras, outdated tasers.”
How does a police department operate well without body cameras?
“It does not,” Hunt said.
The new body-cameras are connected to the new dashboard cameras via bluetooth. As soon as an officer draws a taser or gun, all of the cameras are activated automatically.
And a memory buffer in the cameras stores the preceeding 30 seconds of footage to capture the seconds before the cameras were activated.
Hunt said the Lady Lake Town Commission unanimously supported his request for nearly $1 million to purchase the new technology.
“I really want to say this commission really gets it,” Hunt said. “So I’m really thankful for their support.”
And now Hunt or any supervisor can review any incident. And they do.
“For instance, we made an arrest over the weekend,” Hunt said. “I can go to this Evidence Management System. I can see the wonderful job our people do all the time and I can see, oh, that’s a training issue here we need to identify, let’s work on better communication, let’s work on teaching this person how to do things better.”
Hunt said everyone benefits from officers wearing body cameras.
“It’s providing a level of transparency that they can trust what we do and we’re going to share that information,” Hunt said. “It’s going to capture evidence better so when we go to a party or whatever we’re able to show the state attorney’s office, the prosecutors, defense attorneys, defendants, we’re going to show judges and juries the events that took place. We weren’t able to do that necessarily before. Our court cases are going to be better. Our behavior is going to be better. You and I are better when we’re watched by cameras. It’s just a fact of life.”
One more change Hunt is making – asking his community if he and his officers are getting results.
“That’s another component that we have not done well and so it’s an important component to be able to measure that,” Hunt said. “And I know it’s done widespread and it is happening in law enforcement and it should happen in law enforcement. It should be a way a way of measuring are we providing the service that we think we are.”
Hunt said he signed a five-year contract with Axon, the maker of the body cams and dash cams and tasers, that will ensure equipment upgrades every 2.5 years.
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