Warren To Equip All Police Officers With Body Cameras

WARREN, NJ — Warren Township is looking to spend $76,000 to equip all of their police officers with body-worn cameras, as mandated by Gov. Phil Murphy.

The Township Committee will introduce an ordinance at its Thursday night meeting to authorize $53,000 from the capital improvement fund and $23,000 from the 2020 budget to pay for the cameras.

Currently, the township has 30 members, including the Police Chief, in the department. Warren Township Police Chief William Keane said the majority of the cost associated with the cameras is the storage of data.

"The cameras themselves are only about $600 each but the biggest expense is the record retention of the files," said Keane.

The township would need to have a storage cloud to store the files and a maintenance contract to manage everything.

This initiative to implement cameras in Warren comes after Murphy signed legislation in November 2020 requiring all New Jersey law enforcement to wear body cameras, citing the need for increased transparency and in the interest of improving interactions with the public. Read More: Gov. Murphy Signs Body Camera Mandates For All NJ Police Into Law

Keane says he is happy with this addition to the department and is "completely in favor of it."

"I've talked to my officers and they are all in favor of it as well," said Keane. "There is no dissent and in some ways, this may help us out."

Keane noted that in some instances there were complaints stating officers acted in a certain way when they didn't. The cameras would help prove that, said Keane.

The township committee meeting will be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. and broadcasted live on the Township's website and Facebook page and available virtually via ZOOM. It is also broadcasted live on the Access Channel and will be taped for rebroadcast.

See below for the full resolution:

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