Tustin Police Cars to Carry Video Cameras : Law enforcement: Windshield-mounted device will record traffic stops and aid in crime detection, such as drunk driving arrests and attacks on officers.

All police patrol cars will carry a video camera, in part to protect the safety of police officers, by late next month.

The City Council on Monday unanimously approved spending $100,000 from asset-forfeiture funds to buy and install video cameras on police patrol cars by late February. Asset-forfeiture funds generally are those derived from drug-related cases.

Officials, alarmed by the growing incidents of violence against police officers, including the recent shooting death of a Manhattan Beach officer making a traffic stop, hope that the cameras would work as a deterrent.

“People generally behave when they know they are on camera,” said Mayor Jim Potts, who is also a sergeant with the Irvine Police Department. “It will help reduce crime, because if you can’t run or hide, hopefully, you will obey the law.”

Potts said video cameras could have helped solve the murder of Martin L. Ganz, the Manhattan Beach officer, and the police killings in Compton and Garden Grove. The camera could have recorded the suspects and their vehicles which, with the help of the public, could have been located, he said.

Other agencies in Orange County, including the Sheriff’s Department and the Los Alamitos Police Department, have installed video cameras in their patrol cars.

Video cameras are helpful in police work because “it records everything accurately. We don’t have to rely on someone’s faulty memory,” according to Capt. Fred Wakefield of the Tustin police.

Since June, three patrol cars have been fitted with video cameras, “and we’re happy with the results,” Wakefield said.

“Fortunately, we didn’t have to use the camera to record a homicide yet, but it has been helpful, particularly in (drunk driving) arrests,” Wakefield said.

The cameras, each costing about $4,500, will be bought from Crimtech Systems Inc., a company based in Livonia, Mich., he said.

Wakefield said the video camera is no more than three square inches in size, and is mounted on a bracket on the passenger’s side windshield of the police car. The camera, equipped with a zoom lens, can be operated at night and is connected to a recorder inside the police car’s trunk.

Through a control panel, the officer can start or stop recording and control the lens. A monitor allows the officer to see what the camera sees, and a remote microphone provides the audio.

“It’s a very valuable tool,” Wakefield said.