Interim Police Chief Mark Bailey detailed the program’s history for the nine member-council on September 26th.
“Back in October 2022, the North Adams police department received $94,492 from the Executive Office of Public Safety and the Office of Grants and Research for the body worn camera program," he said. "The police union wrote a letter of support for the body worn camera in December of that year 2022. In May 2023, we rolled out our pilot program with the body cameras, and then in June, everybody wore body cameras.”
Bailey became interim chief in April after Chief Jason Wood was placed on administrative leave following an affair that became public and what Mayor Jennifer Macksey described as an unspecified personnel issue. Wood is suing the city for wrongful termination and breach of contract.
“Since that time, we applied for another grant, which will allow us to buy more body cameras to give to our specials, our retired officers who are also working road details," Bailey continued. "So, when that grant kicks in, if we do get the grant, we buy the body cameras. I mean, it's every officer in North Adams will have a body worn camera. So right now, we have 29 body cams, and that furnishes all of our full-time police officers including myself. They were paid for by the grant, and they have a five-year warranty. The only thing that the city has to pay for is the $5,079 annually for our subscription fee for the video software.”
Bailey said the body cams are broadly supported by officers and administrators alike in North Adams.
“Since the implementation of body worn cameras in North Adams, I can say there was two instances that come to mind that officers were completely exonerated for citizen complaints," he told the council. "It helps us out in the long run as an administrator, because we can review the body camera very quickly and we can show the citizen who is initiating the complaint what actually happened and it doesn't lead to an internal investigation. It could just be squashed before it gets that far. So that saves us time that saves us money having to investigate. Using the body worn camera, it's evidence, it creates evidence that we can use in court. So, our officers won't have to testify as much if we had that hard evidence to show the jury. It also saves us money having to go through motions, having to send our officers to court who are overtime. And it just saves us time in general to get cases adjudicated faster.”
The department retains the recordings for as long as needed.
“It's no less than 180 days, that's by statute," said Bailey. "However, we keep it for a year, as long as there's no incident or criminal activity. So, if it's just me or you talking on the street, and I happen to turn it on, I still have to keep it for a year. But if there's criminal activity, then our evidence retention rate kicks in based on whatever the crime may be.”
Bailey said the NAPD’s goal is to build the force to 30 full-time police officers, and then to furnish both them and the six to eight specials the department employs with cameras.
“We're making sure that everybody that carries a gun is going to have a body camera,” he said.
The NAPD does not yet have dash cams for its cruiser fleet, but Bailey said the department is working on including them in the camera program.
The interim chief explained that officers can review their body camera footage, but not for a use of force incident.
“If we're writing a use of force report, we have to base it on an objectively reasonableness standard," said Bailey. "So, we have to write our report to begin with before we review the camera, and I have access to see whether or not they actually reviewed that body cam footage. So, when they send their narrative to court, they can say this is what I thought happened at the time of the incident. After that, they have the ability to review their own body camera footage, and that's it. Supervisors can review everybody's body camera footage to make sure that they're turning it on properly, they're utilizing it properly, and that there's nothing happening on their shift that that needs attention. Myself and the lieutenant can actually delete video evidence. So, if you accidentally hit the body camera footage and you're talking to your wife and you realize that you forgot to turn it off, I can delete that information, so that way it's not stored and just taking up evidence room.”
The NAPD is required to tell members of the public that they are being recorded by the cameras.
“The citizen has a right, again, to say, I don't want to be audio and video recorded, but it depends on the place," Bailey explained. "So, if I'm out in public, you can say I don't want to be audio video recorded, that's great, but I am going to audio and video record you. If I'm in your house, you can tell me you don't want to be audio and video recorded and I have to abide by that- Unless there's exigent circumstances, right? If something is ongoing, if I- Pretty much if police has a right to be there, I can keep it on. But if the homeowner doesn't want you there, doesn't want the camera on, they can tell you.”
In Pittsfield, Berkshire County’s largest city, a department-wide body camera program has 90 individual units as well as 20 dash cam units for police cruisers. It was approved in February after being blocked by police unions in late 2022. Great Barrington, Southern Berkshire County’s largest community, fully implemented its police body camera program in fall of 2022.
