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ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD – All officers in the Anne Arundel County Police Department now have body cameras. Authorities reached the milestone on September 16. This follows a smooth rollout over the past few months.
Between July 6 and September 15, cameras recorded 54,969 videos. That totaled 12,539 hours and 21,854 gigabytes, or 21,854 terabytes, of data. These videos included:
- 35,168 regular service calls
- 14,008 traffic stops
- 4,118 vehicle accidents and accident scenes
- 315 of various resident contacts
- Other accidental training, testing and activations that were unrelated to community interactions
Each agent now has two Axon Body 3 cameras to ensure they always have one loaded for their shift. All four county police stations have installed camera docking stations. These media will load the equipment and upload its videos to the department’s storage system.
Police have also updated their patrol cars to include wireless controls for cameras. Whenever an agent turns on their emergency lights, their body camera automatically starts recording.
“We look forward to the implementation of the program in the coming months, which will strengthen the trust and relationship between our community and our agents,” Chief Amal Awad said in a press release announcing the reform on February 19. . “Our agenda will also allow us to continue our commitment to transparency and lead us to the highest level of accountability to the community we serve.”
Police explained that they hoped the cameras would achieve these goals:
- “Strengthen the accountability of the police
- “Promote de-escalation
- “Improve the ability to resolve incidents and complaints involving agents
- “Improve transparency
- “Identify and correct internal agency problems
- “Strengthen the performance and safety of agents
- “Increase the safety of the community”
Money for the cameras was included in this year’s county budget. The department worked with County Director Steuart Pittman to answer questions from the community.
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