Lebanon
The department received the donation last week from a city resident who wished to remain anonymous, Chief Richard Mello said on Monday.
“Given what has been seen across the country, where sometimes there isn’t video available, this resident felt body cameras would further protect the police department and the police officers,” the chief said in a telephone interview.
The donation will afford Lebanon police the opportunity to join the ranks of roughly a dozen other New Hampshire law enforcement agencies that utilize the cameras, which cost about $1,000 apiece, Mello said.
Lebanon police officers already have had cameras installed in their cruisers for more than a decade.
“We are ahead of the curve,” Mello said.
Because of funding constraints and the large price tag associated with body cameras and their implementation, the Lebanon Police Department hadn’t yet been able to purchase them.
“The police department has been exploring the integration of body-worn cameras into our current system but due to budget constraints had delayed the program for future funding consideration,” Mello wrote in a Monday news release announcing the donation. “This generous donation will allow the purchase of 10 body-worn cameras.”
The department has already placed the order.
The $18,000 also will fund the body camera accessories, hardware, installation and training and support that is required for the devices.
The cameras will be shared by the roughly 22 patrol officers. No officer on duty will go without one, as there are usually not more than six patrol officers on duty at one time, Mello said.
The department may have some additional costs down the road to expand its footage storage system, but for now, the system the department uses for the cruiser cameras should be sufficient, he said.
Lebanon police will soon begin updating department policies to incorporate body cameras.
Paul Gifford, Lebanon police’s union president, said the union had “no comment” at this time on the purchase of the body cams.
In the Upper Valley, Hartford police started using body cameras about two years ago.
Hanover has had in-cruiser camera systems since 2002, and is scheduled launch to body cameras this month.
Haverhill police also use body cams, which proved helpful in the investigation of an officer-involved shooting in Bath, N.H., in July 2015.
The Attorney General’s Office said footage from body cameras worn by Haverhill officers Ryan Jarvis and Greg Collins, which captured the shooting death of Canterbury, N.H., resident Hagen Esty-Lennon, showed the officers were justified in the use of deadly force.
Only about 25 percent of the nation’s 17,000 police agencies use body cams, according to a 2015 report.
The Claremont Police Department is not one of them.
The body camera debate recently flared up in that city following an officer-involved shooting in late September.
Claremont police Cpl. Ian Kibbe fatally shot Cody LaFont at his Congress Street home after the 25-year-old advanced toward Kibbe with a revolver drawn, according to an Attorney General’s Office report issued on Oct. 19.
There were no witnesses to the incident.
The report said Kibbe was “legally justified” in the shooting death of LaFont.
Claremont Police Chief Alex Scott released the department’s own “administrative review” report on the shooting on Monday afternoon.
In it, Scott addresses body cameras. Claremont’s department also lacks cruiser cams.
Money is the biggest impediment, Scott wrote, noting the department has other equipment purchases that must take priority.
Among them are replacing the department’s two-way radios and mobile computers, which are “critical to our effective and efficient response to calls for service and to emergency incidents” and have “reached the end of their effective use cycle.”
Claremont officers are more likely to see cruiser cameras before body cameras, as the Mobil Data Terminal is the only other project ahead of them before they are added to the Capital Improvement Plan.
“There is no question that cruiser cameras would have value and help with the prosecution of certain criminal offenses as well as provide officers and the community with a level of protection,” Scott wrote in the report. “However, as outlined above, that need has to be prioritized amongst many needs.”
In addition to the financial side of things, Scott had initially expressed worry about laws surrounding the usage of cameras, but those qualms appear to be allayed.
A New Hampshire law signed by Gov. Maggie Hassan in June that regulates police body cams goes into effect in January, according to the report.
Regardless, body or cruiser cams wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the confrontation between Kibbe and LaFont, Scott wrote.
“A review of the facts in the officer-involved shooting under review shows that cruiser cameras or body cameras would likely have had no impact on the outcome of the encounter,” Scott wrote. “Nonetheless, they may have provided value in the review process.”
In the 17-page report, Scott said Kibbe acted in compliance with Claremont Police Department’s rules, policies and procedures and therefore was “exonerated.”
He returned to line duty on Monday.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.