South Lake Tahoe Police officers finish first month with body cameras

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Officers with the South Lake Tahoe Police Department (SLTPD) are now using a new system of body and vehicle cameras. After City Council approved $470,000 Body Worn Camera (BWC) system on July 28, 42 body cameras, 28 in-car cameras, and the associated cloud based storage were ordered, training was completed and procedures were created.

As of October 1, 2020, SLTPD has been equipped with the BWC system and have been worn by officers since then.

SLTPD Chief David Stevenson said the system has been working well so far. He said the daily process ends when the officer gets off duty, puts their device into a charger, and the data is uploaded into the cloud. Officers cannot change data but they are able to add case numbers from the day's activity to the file.

The City hired a new IT person whose main function will be to work with the BWC and cloud.

There is an emergency activation of the system when a taser is activated and when their handgun is drawn from their holster. The recording then goes back 30 seconds from the activation to fill in any possible gaps. The police vehicle's cameras go on emergency activation when Code 3 lights are on.

Lt. Travis Cabral said on social media that the BWC system helps promote transparency and the public’s trust in SLTPD. He said the officers are very appreciative of the new system.

Axon was chosen as the supplier due to their features including the camera automatic turn on feature. This means even if an officer fails to turn their camera on, the camera will automatically start recording. Also, if an officer is in range of another officer with their camera on, the back-up officer's camera will turn on automatically as well when responding to a call.