VBT Board approves buying body-worn cameras for police

By fall, all Van Buren Township police officers will be officially operating body-worn cameras, with each officer assigned a personal camera.
At the April 16 regular meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees, the board voted unanimously to amend the 2019 State Forfeiture Fund budget to buy 35 Watchguard Body Worn Cameras for $45,000.
The township’s insurance carrier, Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority, MMRMA, will provide up to $500 reimbursement per unit through its Risk Avoidance Grant Program. This will go to the township’s general fund.
The CLEMIS Crash and Citation Revenue account for VBT Police Department will be used to assist with funding this purchase.
VBT Public Safety Director Gregory Laurain told the board that for the last four and a half years the police department has been researching equipping the department with Body Worn Cameras to promote transparency, accountability and to mitigate risk posed by civil litigation.
Storage for captured footage will be stored on an existing 100 terabytes server already purchased by the Civic Fund. This is a non-cloud-based storage solution and the most economic way to store electronic data, Director Laurain said.
In a memo to the board, Laurain said Mobile Video Cameras (MVC) have been a part of law enforcement for well over 30 years and the VBT Police Department has used this technology it its patrol vehicles for more than 25 years.
He said the department recently replaced its old MVC system and when doing so selected a MVC system that has the capability to integrate with Body Worn Cameras, if and when it decided to move in that direction.
When used correctly, the cameras can also promote accountability, strengthen police transparency, improve performance, preserve evidence, and resolve citizen complaints. The evidentiary benefits cause the Wayne County Prosecutors Office to support departments using this technology.
He said several police agencies already have Body Worn Cameras, including Sumpter Township, Taylor, Westland, Livonia, Canton Township, Washtenaw County Sheriffs, Michigan State Police, Detroit, Roseville, Clinton Township, Macomb County Sheriffs, University of Michigan, Kalamazoo Township and Kalamazoo City.
Cloud storage of data is costly, Laurain said, but after a thorough evaluation, it was decided the current 100 terabyte server would be more than sufficient to house data from both the MVCs and Body Worn Cameras. This is based on the number of patrol vehicles (17) and officers that would be assigned and wearing the body cameras (35). Actually he said there are 32 uniformed officers and three extra cameras for backup.
Laurain said they expect to get the equipment in May or June and they will give them to the officers to learn them, learn the policy and state mandates and “play with them” before being implemented in the fall. The training will be done during roll call.
He said the body cameras automatically go on when the overhead lights are on, the patrol vehicle is going 85 mph, the air bag deploys, or the sirens are on, otherwise the officer turns on the camera.
Laurain said Michigan State Police and Detroit PD also are using the Watchguard brand.
Trustee Reggie Miller said the township has been looking at this for ten years. She remembers when she was on the Public Safety Commission members asked about it and were in favor of the cameras.
In other business at the April 16 meeting, the board:
• Watched Trustee Kevin Martin, on behalf of the board, present a framed resolution honoring the late Congressman John D. Dingell, Jr. to his widow, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Congresswoman Dingell said her husband loved Van Buren Township and also loved Supervisor Kevin McNamara’s father, the late Wayne county Executive Edward McNamara;
• Approved the proposed route of the Iron Belle Trail through VBT, with the controversial east end of the route going down E. Huron River Drive to the Metropark as proposed last year. A resolution in support of the Iron Belle Trail in VBT will be attached to the grant proposal;
• Watched a 15-minute videotape of Supervisor Kevin McNamara giving the State of the Township presentation;
• Approved a resolution to release a 2.11-acre parcel from the Banotai Farmland Development Rights Agreement with the state, since the parcel has been split off and a home for a family member has been built on it. The Michigan Farmland and Open Space Preservation Act of 1974 allows a farm owner to enter into a Development Rights Agreement with the state. This agreement, that gives tax advantages, ensures that the land remains in agricultural use for a minimum of 10 years and is not developed for a non-agricultural use.;
• Approved an agreement with Dale and Juliet Kupkowsky, owners at 39591 Price St., and the City of Romulus, granting permission for connection to the water system in the City of Romulus because their well failed and VBT does not have water service in that area;
• Approved the selection of Gonczy’s Property Maintenance for township grass cutting and related services for 2019 at a cost of $62,730. Gonczy’s was the previous holder of the contract, which started in 2012. This contract is for the 2019 season, with an annual renewal option for up to two years at the same price. The second bidder was Pioneer at $66,850;
• Approved the first readings of ordinances to rezone parcels at 13440 Martinsville Rd., and next door at 13510 Martinsville Rd., from M-1, Light Industrial, to 1-B, Single Family Residential. The owners of the parcels wish to sell their single-family homes and banks will not offer mortgages to the buyers because the use is noncompliant with the zoning. The property owners said they didn’t know their properties were M-1 zoning until they wished to sell them;
• Heard Supervisor McNamara announce that Linda Stevenson has passed her training and is now a Level 4 Assessor. He said there were eight in her class and she’s the only one who made it through. “She’s a rare, rare duck out there,” he commented at the work/study session the day before. “There are not too many Level 4’s walking around”; and
• Heard Treasurer Sharry Budd announce Deputy Treasurer Sean Bellingham has renewed his Certified Public Finance Administrator Certification which is a certification requiring many hours of continuing education every five years. He has renewed in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019.