TUSTIN : All Patrol Cars Will Get Video Cameras

About a third of the city’s police patrol cars have been fitted with video cameras, and by the first week of August all will carry the recording devices.

Since last week, a technician from Crimtech Systems Inc. has been installing the video cameras, according to Lt. Houston Williams. So far, six patrol cars have been fitted with the device, he said.

“It will be a psychological boost to both police officers and citizens,” Williams said. “People are generally on their best behavior when they know they are being taped. It works both ways.”

Last month, the City Council authorized spending $100,000 from the city’s forfeiture asset fund, money generally derived from drug cases, to buy and install the cameras.

Part of the reason was to protect the patrol officers. Council members said they are concerned with the increasing number of assaults against police officers, among them the recent killing of a Manhattan Beach police officer who was shot to death by an unidentified man during a traffic stop.

The video cameras could help prevent such assaults or at least provide evidence that could help identify the assailants, said Mayor Jim Potts, who pushed for the purchase of the equipment.

When the installations are complete, Tustin will be the first Orange County city to equip all its patrol cars with video cameras, Williams said. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has video cameras on all patrol cars, he noted. Los Alamitos has cameras on some of its patrol cars.

Chris Brown, a technician from Crimtech System Inc., the Michigan-based company that provided the video cameras, said that several other police agencies, including Buena Park and Fountain Valley, have requested demonstrations of the system.

“It’s valuable in a lot of ways, including as a training tool,” said Brown, whose job includes teaching police officers how to operate the system. “They could review the tapes to check if proper procedures were followed” during traffic stops, for example.

Each system costs $4,500. It consists of the video camera, a computer trunk box that houses a computer and a videocassette recorder, a three-inch color monitor and a control panel that allows the officer to start or stop recording and to operate the camera’s zoom lens. A wireless microphone that could be attached to the officer’s lapel provides the sound.

Brown said that the videotape is tamper-proof and cannot be edited or erased because of built-in safeguards in the computer.

“It provides unbiased evidence,” said Officer Pat Welch. “From that standpoint alone, it’s a major benefit to police officers.”

Williams said that three patrol cars had used video cameras before the council decided to install them in all unit. Officers at first were reluctant to use them but have come to like them, he said.

This week, for instance, Williams said, officers stopped a motorist who ran three red lights and made an illegal turn. The motorist argued that he had not made any traffic violation. “But when the officers told him that the entire incident was on tape, he could only say, ‘Oh,’ ” Williams said. “Complaints have been reduced substantially when the cameras were used.”