Body Worn Cameras Deployed For Use By Hopatcong Police

HOPATCONG, NJ — The Hopatcong Borough Police Department announced on Thursday that officers, whether in uniform or plainclothes, have been trained on and are now equipped with body cameras, based on directives from New Jersey’s Attorney General.

The department’s officers are outfitted with Panasonic BWC4000 Body Worn Cameras on their chests if they are in uniform and those who are plainclothes officers, will have them on their belts.

Officers will advise individuals that they come in contact with that they are being recorded, unless it is unsafe or impossible for the officer to do so at an incident they respond to, according to a Hopatcong Police Facebook Post on Thursday about the cameras.

According to the directive from New Jersey's Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal on May 25, many departments have voluntarily equipped their officers with cameras, since police departments in New Jersey first started using them in 2015.

Grewal updated the Body Worn Camera policy in his directive, he said, based on updates in legislation in 2020 that requires the use of body cameras regularly by “uniformed patrol officers.”

“While many departments in New Jersey have already been deploying BWCs on a routine basis, these new laws will usher in a rapid expansion of BWC use across the state, both in who will be required to wear a BWC and under what circumstances,” Grewal wrote.

Grewal said that public support has increased for police body cameras with a “consistent public demand for the release of BWC footage in the wake of critical incidents involving police use of force.”

“This footage provides objective evidence of what occurred and plays a crucial role in the public discourse around police accountability,” he said.

Questions or comments about this story? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.