Fishkill Police Department's New Body Cameras

Let's start by acknowledging that people have strong and varied opinions on the entire concept of body cameras on police officers. This article is not to debate that. Instead, this Dutchess County Police Department has shared an update about new body cameras on their officers, including information on what they do, and don't do.

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Body Camera Use in New York State

As of 2021, under state law, New York State Police are required to provide body cameras to troopers on patrol. Since then, more and more municipalities have implemented some sort of body camera rollout, with the devices becoming more of a norm rather than the exception.

In NYC, the NYPD has equipped more than 20,000 of their team including patrol officers, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants, thus making it the 'largest body-camera program in the United States.'

On Monday June 8th, the Town of Fishkill Police Department shared an update via social media about 'new body cameras' on their officers. They went on to detail that if you come across an officer wearing one, that it is totally ok to ask about it.

Town of Fishkill Police Department via Facebook

They will be happy to explain how we use the cameras & store the videos.

Town of Fishkill Police Officers New Body Cameras

In their announcement, the Town of Fishkill Police wanted to clarify what the cameras are used for and how, outlining the 'do and don't' list upon rollout. See below for complete details.

On Fishkill Police Officers, with regard to body-warn cameras:

They do record audio and visual information (although an Officer can disable the microphone or the camera to preserve someone's privacy in particularly sensitive cases.)
They do continually buffer, so the camera will "remember" the 30 seconds of video before the Officer hits the button to record.
They don't have A.I. that scans the video, automatically generates reports from footage or provides information to another agency.
They don't always provide a perfect recreation of everything an Officer sees and hears at an incident. The human element of an Officer's written reports and in-person testimony is still necessary for everything we do.

We are looking forward to having these cameras help us record our interactions with citizens and preserve evidence. (And we are already there: on the first day they were out, a camera captured a DWI suspect on video.)

You can follow along with the Town of Fishkill Police Department, here.

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