This article is as it appears in the Kearny Observer

BLOOMFIELD- Soon the town will be adding cameras to ten of their patrol cars to see what is happening at routine traffic stops. Bloomfield will be spending about $100,000 on the cameras. The township received $14,348 from the Byrne Memorial Justice Assistant Grant program. The Byrne Memorial Grant was set up to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime in order to improve the criminal justice system, and the cameras in patrol cars have proven in other towns that they serve the reason the grant was set up. The Byrne Memorial Grant is being administered through the Newark Police Department, stated Capt. Michael Behr. Bloomfield is also receiving about $85,000 from another Justice Assistant Grant, according to a state press release.

It is approximated that it will cost around $8,000 per patrol car camera, which in total will cost around $80,000, and the other $20,000 will be used to buy computers and other equipment, which will be used to download the video camera’s footage.

Bloomfield is looking at two companies to buy the cameras from and will decide within the month which company to go with, and then it will take about a month to add all the cameras to the patrol cars.
The cameras will be attached to eleven patrol car dashboards. The camera will then tape the routine patrol stop, and when the patrol car comes back at the end of the shift the tape will be downloaded to a computer, and then be readily available to make a DVD to be used either for reviews and/or for court cases, in which the footage would pertain to. There are many positives to adding cameras to patrol cars. Some of these positives are to monitor what is happening at traffic stops and to see whether everything is done appropriately by the officer, which can be used later as a training tool, as well as, seeing whether the officer or the one being arrested is using abusive language, as the cameras will not only be able to take pictures of the scene, but also be able to take audio of the incident, stated Capt. Michael Behr.

“There is, however, a negative to the cars, which is that police officers believe morally that they should be trusted at routine stops. The positives far outweigh the negative though, said Capt. Michael Behr. Neighboring town Bellville, purchased cameras for their patrol cars about three years ago. Belleville wanted to stay ahead of the curve and knew that they were going to have to add cameras to their cars eventually, so we just did it, said Deputy Chief Charles Hood.

Belleville has already seen the purchase of its cameras pay off. A few years back, an officer was perusing another car after trying to pull the vehicle over . In an effort to stop the car, the police interjected and the vehicle lost control, crashing and killing a women. The camera showed the details of the chase, and as a result of that the officer who broke pursuit was cleared of any wrong doing reguarding.

Will Bloomfield’s‚ routine police stops now be run more smoothly with the addition of the cameras? Only time will tell.