Middletown Police Will Get 130 Body Cameras

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The Middletown Police Department is getting body cameras, as per a new requirement by Gov. Phil Murphy that every police department in the state have the cameras by June 1.

Middletown Township applied for — and received — a $264,940 grant from the state to buy the cameras, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced this week.

That money will be used to purchase 130 body cameras for the Middletown Township Police Department. It is not immediately known when Middletown police officers will start wearing the cameras.

The grant paid for the initial purchase of the cameras, but the recurring cost of storing the data will likely be borne by Middletown taxpayers.

Middletown Police did not have body cameras until the governor mandated it.

In November, Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation that required every uniformed patrol officer in New Jersey to be outfitted with a body camera while on duty by June 1, 2021.

New Jersey State Troopers have had car-mounted cameras for more than two decades and have been wearing body cameras for the past several months "with great success," Colonel Patrick Callahan, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, said this week.

Statewide, 28,214 cameras will be purchased at a total cost of $57.5 million. The Attorney General's Office is administering the grant program on a reimbursement basis, with agencies receiving funding at $2,038 per camera, which may be used for the purchase of cameras and equipment needed to operate them, and towards the costs of storing footage from the cameras.

Many other police departments in the state applied for the grant money to fund the cameras. Here are some neighboring Monmouth County towns:

• Holmdel: Getting $42,798 for 21 body-worn cameras
• Hazlet: Getting $114,128 for the purchase of 56 body-worn cameras
• Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office: $264,940 (130 BWC)

• Monmouth County Sheriff's Office: $203,800 (130 BWC)

• Asbury Park: $244,560 (120 BWC)
• Englishtown: $20,380 (10 BWC)
• Fair Haven: $52,988 (26 BWC)
• Freehold Boro: $81,520 (40 BWC)
• Freehold Township: $161,002 (79 BWC)
• Howell Township: $489,120 (240 BWC)
• Keansburg: $48,912 (24 BWC)
• Keyport: $32,608 (16 BWC)
• Little Silver: $24,456 (12 BWC)
• Manalapan: $122,280 (60 BWC)
• Marlboro Township: $205,838 (101 BWC)
• Neptune Township: $189,534 (93 BWC)
• Red Bank: $81,520 (40 BWC)
• Rumson: $61,140 (30 BWC)
• Shrewsbury Borough: $24,456 (12)
• Wall: $132,470 (65 BWC)

Some studies show that use of force and complaints against officers go down when police are wearing body cameras: This study conducted by the University of Cambridge in 2012 showed that the use of force by police officers wearing cameras fell by 59 percent from the previous year. Complaints against officers using body cameras fell by 87 percent.

"We are witnessing a new chapter in policing in New Jersey with the reforms we are implementing in partnership with law enforcement and community leaders. And, with the body cameras we are funding, we will literally have an objective witness to how police carry out their duties," said Gov. Murphy on Tuesday of this week.

With reporting by Anthony Bellano

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