Police mark 1-year with bodycams

FINDLAY — Findlay police officers have been outfitted with body-worn cameras for a full year now, collecting pieces of evidence that now number in the thousands. In a report to Findlay City Council, delivered at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sgt. Eddie Walters, an administrative sergeant with the Findlay Police Department, said, "Overall, aside from a few minor learning curves, it has been a very successful program." The department launched its use of the cameras on Aug. 14. It has since installed "signal sidearm devices" that automatically activate any body camera within 35 feet whenever an officer's weapon is removed from the holster. According to Walters' report, a total of 71 department and auxiliary officers have used the cameras to submit evidence. Twenty-one marked patrol vehicles have also been outfitted with in-car camera systems as of Aug. 6, with training completed in May and June with all sworn personnel. A total of 58,489 pieces of digital evidence have been uploaded by members of the department. A total of 11,927 photos and/or videos have been uploaded. Digital evidence shared with partner agencies, including the Hancock County Prosecutor and Findlay's law director, numbers 6,079 pieces through 508 record requests. A total of 12,988 pieces of digital evidence have been shared with members of the public through 322 records requests. In all, the department has used 18.07 terabytes of storage on the evidence.com support website. There have been multiple problems with equipment failure, however. In the past year, five charging docks, seven body cameras and one dash camera have been replaced due to various issues. Walter said the department was able to get the equipment replaced quickly by the provider, Axon Enterprise, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona. A full-time position has been created at the department tasked with the process of answering public records requests and redacting the videos. The videos are redacted, for example, to protect the identity of juveniles. Public requests can be made online at the city's website, findlayohio.gov, under "Records." In 2023, Findlay received a $91,929 grant from the state's criminal justice services office to offset the cost of buying the cameras, related software and data storage. In November 2022, Gov. Mike DeWine announced an initiative to equip all of Ohio's troopers with body cameras. The state budget also included $10 million to help local law enforcement agencies purchase body cameras.