Officers get an extra set of eyes

Moscow Police Department officers will soon wear body cameras after the City Council unanimously approved the purchase and deployment of the devices at Monday night’s regular council meeting.

Moscow police have vehicle-mounted cameras, but officers do not wear body cameras.

“This is one issue where it seems both the police and the public are pretty much well-aligned in the need and desire to have body cams out there,” Councilor Art Bettge said.

The estimated upfront cost is $130,000, which includes $64,000 to buy 32 cameras, $50,000 for annual digital storage and $16,000 for licensing, software and technical services, according to a memo from City Supervisor Gary Riedner to Mayor Bill Lambert and the City Council.

Thirty of the cameras, which Riedner said have a lifespan of three years, will be worn by officers and two will be saved in case a camera malfunctions or breaks.

Riedner said he expects it will cost $140,000 to $150,000 annually for camera replacements, digital storage and records management.

“I think even considering the costs, I think this is a great addition to our community policing efforts,” Councilor Anne Zabala said.

Riedner said the city can immediately purchase the cameras and deploy them as quickly as the city attorney’s office can develop the policies and procedures officers will need to implement for using the cameras.

Riedner wrote in the memo that cameras would provide additional evidence in cases, enhance transparency of contacts between officers and community members, and increase accountability of all parties to a law enforcement contact.

The city solicited the body-worn camera proposal from Watch Guard, the same vendor which provides the vehicle-mounted cameras in use by Moscow police, according to the memo. The Watch Guard body-worn camera system is fully integrated and compatible with the vehicle camera system and would employ the same remote download of data to the city’s digital storage.

Riedner said the city has discussed purchasing body cameras various times over the years.

“With the recent happenings across the nation regarding police forces and interaction with the police, the discussion of body-worn cameras has again come up,” Riedner said.

Many law enforcement agencies across the country use body cameras, including the Pullman Police Department.

Moscow Police Chief James Fry said the cameras will be used when responding to certain calls. He said a list will be developed of what types of calls officers will turn the cameras on. Fry said traffic stops and domestic calls are examples of when the cameras would be used.

In other business, the City Council approved:

The fiscal 2021 amended appropriation ordinance for the $96.1 million city budget and revised L-2 property tax certification. The 2021 fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

The final date for submission of the L-2 to Latah County is Sept. 10. The council decided to refrain from sending the L-2 to the county until the last minute so legal issues surrounding a state initiative can be clarified.

The approved documents would provide Moscow taxpayers property tax relief through an initiative proposed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little.

Little proposed a Public Safety Grant Initiative, which is expected to provide funding for public safety payroll expenses to city and county governments that agreed to participate in the initiative and further agreed to provide the resulting savings as property tax relief to the taxpayers of the participating local governments by foregoing the taxes that would otherwise traditionally have been collected.

The City Council previously approved the filing of a letter of intent to participate in the initiative and the city was notified it had been approved to receive $1,646,816 in initiative funds.

Riedner said the city’s property tax levy was going to be $5.01 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in fiscal 2021, but would lower to $3.95 by the council accepting the initiative funding.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.