The Irondequoit Police Department has started equipping its 52 officers with body-worn cameras. Town Supervisor Dave Seeley says they’ve been in a testing phase over the last couple of years, working on both technical details and the logistics needed to carry out the program.
Seeley says the cameras will be on for most of the encounters that officers have with the public. He says there may be some limited times when they are not used, such as for privacy reasons.
Seeley says overall, this should be a positive development for the Irondequoit community and for the officers themselves.
“Having that camera really allows us, not just to provide transparency in instances where there was perhaps an incident where someone did not leave feeling good about it, but also it allows us, I think, to shine light on all the good things that our police officers do and I think they know that and recognize that.” Seeley said.
Seeley says the town did get feedback for the body worn camera program from community groups, both in Irondequoit and in Rochester.
“We worked with them…not just in Irondequoit. We also work with our neighbors, we work with stakeholders in the City of Rochester, particularly the northern part, because we want to make sure that people visiting Irondequoit have input on that process as well,” Seeley explained.
Captain Mark Bean of the Irondequoit Police Department says officers are in favor of the body-worn camera program, and he says many people in the community back it as well.
"It protects the officers from false accusations and in the reverse it actually helps protect the citizen that we're dealing with because our officer knows that the body-worn camera is going to be running and they're going to be more apt to do whatever they can to help the people, which I hope they would do anyway,” Bean said.
