By Erika Kengni
The Lexington Police Department is looking into getting body-worn cameras for its officers, said Police Chief Angela Greene. The purchase would cost about $110,000.
In the city’s capital investment plan, the police department requested that body cameras be purchased in 2028. However, that date could be pushed back if the city doesn’t get a grant, according to Lexington City Council member David Sigler.
The city is currently looking into state and federal grants to cover the costs.
“It just isn’t the top, top priority in the city that we would allocate $110,000 when there’s an opportunity to get a grant,” Sigler said.
The Lexington Police Department received a federal grant for $36,000 that could have gone towards the cost of body cameras in 2023, said Greene. But the city turned down the money because it would not have been enough to cover the entire cost.
“Right now, the body-worn cameras is something that is not at the top of the list.” -David Sigler
“Body-worn cameras [provide] transparency, legitimacy,” Greene said. “It is a wonderful tool for us to have.”
Lexington Police Sgt. Claude Hartbarger said body cameras are just a tool and that having them would not change how he polices the community.
“[Body cameras] provide more video evidence for court proceedings,” Hartbarger said.
But there are more concerns about body cameras than just the cost, according to Sigler.
“Body-worn cameras definitely have a role in crime […] but they also do capture some people at their lowest moments,” said Sigler, “And that’s also a challenge on people’s privacy.”
The Buena Vista Police Department has body cameras. The footage has ended up online because of Freedom of Information Act requests, said Sigler.
Lexington Police Department’s body camera footage related to investigations would need to be reviewed by a member of the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, Lexington City Council member Nicholas Betts said.
The Buena Vista Police Department currently has body-worn cameras. The Buena Vista Commonwealth Attorney’s office is obligated to review footage connected to criminal investigations and to alert defendants of potentially exculpatory footage, said Joshua Elrod, the commonwealth’s attorney for Buena Vista.
“In his words, he was not getting paid enough to spend so much time reviewing videos.”
In addition to the initial cost of purchasing the cameras, the Lexington Commonwealth Attorney’s office expects that it would require $40,000 annually to pay staff to review the footage if body cameras were implemented, Sigler said.
Due to the workload required, the state of Virginia passed a law requiring localities with body cameras either to hire a full-time staff member to review footage or spend additional funds to compensate existing staff, said Jared Moon, the commonwealth’s attorney for Lexington.
Moon says that he knows of a former Virginia prosecutor who left a commonwealth’s attorney’s office because of this issue.
“In his words, he was not getting paid enough to spend so much time reviewing videos,” said Moon.
Currently, Lexington police have cameras mounted on their cars that provide a record of officer interactions. However, those dash cams need to be replaced.
The in-car cameras were purchased 10 years ago and the manufacturer recommends that they be replaced every five years, according to city capital investment plan documents.
Because the cameras worked even after five years, the city did not replace them, Sigler said. However, two years ago, the cameras stopped receiving updates and support from the manufacturer, Motorola/Watchguard. The city plans to spend about $192,000 to replace them next fiscal year, which starts in July.
The money will come out of the city’s annual taxes and fees, Sigler said.
Lexington is looking into federal grants that could cover the entire costs of body cameras, Sigler said. However, it is unlikely that the police will receive body cameras soon.
“There’s always a whole host of items that we want, that we need,” Sigler said. “And, right now, the body-worn cameras is something that is not at the top of the list.”