In an effort to strengthen communication with residents and to ensure officer safety, the Sugar Land and Missouri City police departments are taking steps to implement department-wide bodycamera programs.

SLPD is adding an additional 30 body cameras to its force, while MCPD is in the middle of its 90-day pilot program to test five different body camera vendors.

Doug Adolph, assistant communications director for the city of Sugar Land, said as the city grows, body-worn cameras are becoming tools to assist officers in the field as well as in court.

"[SLPD] takes a proactive approach to utilizing technology to assist police officers and ensure Sugar Land remains among the nation's safest cities," he said. "We believe this tool could be beneficial for our department, and we're currently evaluating its effectiveness."

MCPD Chief Michael Berezin said a department-wide body camera program would also help provide a third perspective for officers during encounters with the public.

"While officers are out there watching people's hands, watching traffic and making sure nobody is walking up on them, there are a lot of things for the officer to process, and it would be nice if he or she has the camera on," he said.

SLPD

SLPD began fitting officers with Axon body-worn cameras in November after purchasing 30 cameras through general funds. To move forward with a departmentwide program, SLPD applied for $34,452 of grant funds through the Criminal Justice Division of the Texas Governor's office in February for an additional 30 cameras.

SLPD Capt. Michelle Allen said a departmentwide body camera program will help with the review process when dealing with specific cases. Allen said the goal of the department is to have 114 body-worn cameras to fit every patrol officer and patrol sergeant who regularly interacts with the public.

"It is so much easier to access the body camera video that will be available should there be citizen complaints or other things we want to review," she said.

Adolph said fitting officers with body-worn cameras will help reduce resident complaints and assist in criminal cases.

"Cameras provide additional video footage that can aid in prosecution of criminal cases and can reduce overtime by not requiring officers to appear in court as much," he said.

MCPD

With two months remaining before MCPD's 90-day pilot program wraps up, MCPD Compliance Officer Michael Curry said a departmentwide body camera program is projected to total between $600,000 and $700,000 for a five year contract, with each camera totaling between $300 and $1,000.

However, Curry said the department's highest priority, and the largest bulk of the program's cost, is the storage of data and videos.

"Obtaining the cameras is not necessarily the biggest issue because you can go out and get a cheap camera and slap them on each officer," he said. "The biggest issue and the [primary] component to this project is keeping the integrity of the data."

The department has estimated a need of six terabytes of annual storage. However, Curry said having a limited amount of storage puts the department at risk of going over its set storage limit.

"If you box yourself into estimating how much storage you would need, you would likely go over that," he said. "If you do not have the right storage component and the right back office element, then you have a bunch of cameras out there collecting data you may or may not have when you need it."

A vendor will not be determined until later in the year, and Curry said he has met with each vendor to analyze their respective back office capabilities. Because maintaining the integrity of each video is a priority, Curry said the department is proceeding with caution to guarantee reliable storage and video maintenance.

"When you look at having to put cameras on 100 officers, you do not know how much data each one of them is going to use," he said. "If you do not have a back office, something that I can manage on a regular basis, then there is really not much you can do with the product."