Newport Beach Police Want Cameras in Cars : Law enforcement: Chief Robert McDonell says videotaping is vital in court cases. He also wants equipment for two helicopters.

Believing that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” Police Chief Robert J. McDonell said Thursday that he would like to see all of his department’s patrol cars and helicopters equipped with video cameras later this year.

“It is something that has been in the back of our minds for some time,” said McDonell, who will present the City Council on Monday with a proposal to purchase a $239,000 videotaping system for 29 patrol cars and two helicopters.

The fist-sized cameras, perched just below the rear-view mirror, would record pursuits and traffic stops and can be activated manually by the push of a button on a control console or be activated automatically whenever the vehicle’s emergency lights are turned on.

The video image is relayed to recording equipment in the patrol car’s trunk and cannot be erased or edited by officers, making the visual record a way to prove or disprove complaints of misconduct, officials said.

A wireless microphone can also provide audio for the taped images and can continue to operate for a certain distance even after the officer is out of camera range.

McDonell’s request for the taping system comes at a time when the city is faced with a $3-million deficit and the Police Department plans to reduce its staff of sworn officers by five positions to 133 to cut its overall budget by $600,000 for the upcoming year.

But McDonell said purchasing the equipment would actually save the city money in the long run because it would greatly reduce the amount of money the city has been spending to defend itself against police-related lawsuits.

Since 1983, the city has spent an average of $600,000 a year on lawsuits, with 42% of that spent on legal fees, regardless of the outcome of the case, McDonell said.

“We feel the cameras will stop a lot of these claims before they are filed,” he said. “We will be able to play these tapes and will have the evidence.”

McDonell said the expense would include installation of the cameras, the cost of enough videotapes to last at least one year, a computer and program for tracking the tapes, containers, shelving for storage and other related equipment.

The Sheriff’s Department became the first law enforcement agency in Orange County to equip all of its patrol cars with video cameras. The department began experimenting with cameras in some cars in 1992, then installed the equipment in the rest of its fleet last year, Assistant Sheriff Dennis LaDucer said.

“Everybody wins with recorders,” LaDucer said. “They create a tremendous amount of public trust. When a deputy responds to a call, there’s a disinterested third party there watching it all.”

Tustin, Los Alamitos and Garden Grove police departments have cameras in all or some of their patrol cars.

Tustin Police Sgt. David Kreyling said the video cameras have been “a positive move with no negative side.”

In Garden Grove, seven of the department’s 40 patrol cars have video cameras. Police Capt. David Abrecht said the department cannot afford to equip the rest of the fleet at this time.

Abrecht said a video camera would probably have been helpful in tracking down the killer of Officer Howard Dallies Jr., who was shot to death by a motorcyclist during a traffic stop in March, 1993.

Police have followed hundreds of leads in the case but have so far made no arrests.

“A camera would have been really helpful in getting an accurate description,” Abrecht said. “It would have given us a lot more to work with.”