LYNN — Mayor Thomas M. McGee was joined by Lynn Police officers and representatives from AXON during a virtual town hall meeting Tuesday night to discuss a new initiative that will require patrol officers to start wearing body cameras this month.
AXON is the company the city purchased the cameras from.
Acting Chief Lenny Desmarais said the body cameras will be implemented beginning with the day shift officers on April 13, followed by the night shift on April 20 and the morning shift on April 27.
Lynn Police created a new video evidence unit, overseen by Lt. Ashley Affonco and Officer Domingo Polonia, to monitor the downloading of videos and requests and to assist officers with technical issues.
The program was put into place after months of dialogue between the city and the Lynn Racial Justice Coalition regarding the need for more transparency and accountability for interactions with the residents of the community
The Tele Town Hall was requested by the coalition to better educate the public on the use and purpose of the body cameras before the start of the program.
Nicole Mcclain spoke on behalf of the coalition saying this “implementation of body cameras shows that the city of Lynn is being transparent.”
She said the coalition will continue to share the diverse voices from the community and work with the local government to make things like body cameras for police possible.
Lynn Deputy Police Chief Michael Vail thanked McGee and Mcclain for their efforts on the initiative, saying that its implementation is going to show the great work the officers do.
“It’s going to increase transparency and be a step in the right direction towards building trust with the community we serve,” he said.
The body cameras will record every interaction an officer has with the public.
According to AXON account executive Josh Bowling, the cameras are designed to withstand temperature ranges, drops from six feet onto concrete, five meters under water for up to 30 minutes, and have rechargeable batteries.
Bowling said there are a number of features to the camera, highlighting they can be manually activated, but also activated by either a taser or a connected electrical weapon coming off of safety, and has a signal side arm feature to activate the camera when the officers draw a weapon.
He said the cameras are easy to operate, with Affonco adding that officers will be given two days of training and consistent support from the video evidence unit and AXON. She said the footage will remain under retention categories depending on the severity of the crime.
Desmarais said the officers can view their camera videos from a laptop in the station and detectives and the video evidence unit will also have access if needed.
He said videos can be released to the public if it is a reasonable request that doesn’t include footage of a crime scene with an ongoing investigation.
Vail said the body cameras will not be recording in certain situations such as in locker rooms, places of worship, hospitals because of HIPPA laws, daycares, law offices and if the encounter is not related to a call.
Regarding consequences if officers remove their cameras, Desmarais said he does not believe that will occur because all of the officers he has spoken with are in full support of the initiative. However, if the cameras are removed, Desmarais said the issue would be investigated.
The footage is safe, according to Bowling, because they contain encrypted software and have evidence access within the agency drive that requires permissions, to which only certain officers will have access.
Bowling said the purchased cameras have a less than one percent failure rate, but if they do malfunction, AXON has provided spare cameras to the police department.
If a malfunction occurs, Desmarais said officers are required to report it to their commanding officer immediately before retrieving a spare.
There is also a five-year warranty on the body cameras and if the spares run out, Bowling said more cameras will be shipped to the department overnight.
According to Desmarais, the body camera policy will be available to the public on the Lynn Police Department website once the body cameras are on the three divisions.
McGee encouraged the public to view and read the policy to further explain and answer any questions people may have.
Allysha Dunnigan can be reached at [email protected].
