Program Background
In order to improve
police-community relations, the Rochester Police Department (RPD), created the RPD
Body-Worn Camera (BWC) initiative.
The City of Rochester engaged in extensive research on equipment, data management, policies and community involvement for successful deployment of the program. All Rochester Police Lieutenants, Sergeants and Officers presently assigned to patrol Sections are equipped with BWCs. There are about 500 BWCs assigned to patrol personnel.
The RPD has entered into various partnerships to ensure the project’s success. This includes critical components within the City from Information Technology, Budget and Law, as well as partnerships with the District Attorney and Public Defender offices and Civilian Review Board. Most significantly, the program includes a strong partnership with the community, as represented by a variety of community and neighborhood organizations, as well as community input meetings focused on the gathering and sharing of information.
RPD BWC Policy/Manual
The RPD continues to develop policy that directs the use of BWCs by its members. These policies are stated in the RPD BWC Manual which is used for training and implementation of the BWC program. Based on comments and suggestions by RPD personnel, community organizations and other stakeholders, this manual continues to be reviewed and amended.
Current BWC Manual - August 2018
Frequently Asked Questions regarding the RPD BWC Manual.
Previous Versions:
Original Draft BWC Manual - 2016
BWC Manual - June 2016
BWC Manual - October 2016
BWC Manual - August 2017
BWC Manual - February 2018
BWC Program Goals:
- Full deployment of BWCS to Officers who
regularly interact with the public in enforcement capacities.
- Improve the quality of public service and promote the
perceived legitimacy, sense of fairness and procedural justice the
community has about the RPD.
- Improve management of digital multi-media evidence
(DME) to ensure identification, retention and accessibility of DME that is
relevant to enforcement activities and the conduct of RPD officers.
- Incorporate the BWC program into the RPD's policy and
training development.
- Implement strong policies to ensure proper and credible
use of BWCs.
- Establish a continuing BWC program that remains
technologically current and financially sustainable.
Project History and Updates
The BWC initiative took into account the following considerations:
- Budget Restrictions (Cost to purchase/cost to
maintain/labor cost)
- Legal Restrictions (Privacy concerns/evidentiary nature
of data/labor relations)
- Equipment Restrictions (Fixed lens/distortion/battery
life/data storage)
- Cyber-security
- Policy
The RPD’s BWC Project Team completed a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to select a vendor to provide BWCs for the City of Rochester. On
January 19, 2016, City Council authorized the City to enter into an agreement
with the vendor, which began the implementation phase of the project. From
January 2016 to March 2017, the RPD worked to deploy
500 BWCs to its patrol personnel.
The BWC team will regularly
post project updates HERE. Follow this link for
additional information on the program and to provide any INPUT you may have.
Project History Timeline
- January 2014: RPD
began research on the use of BWCs to understand program costs
and best practices.
- December 2014: Mayor
Lovely Warren, Chief Michael Ciminelli and Locust Club President Michael
Mazzeo jointly announced that the RPD will implement a
BWC Program.
- April 2015 - June 2015: City Council conducted a survey seeking
public opinion regarding RPD officers being outfitted with BWCs. Results of the survey can be found here.
- June 2015:
- July 2015:
The City issued an RFP, requesting vendors to give detailed options for providing BWCs, as well as data
storage and management solutions.
- August 2015: Vendor selection began with the careful evaluation of all submitted
vendor proposals. Four vendors were selected to demonstrate their
products, as well as provide further information in support of the City’s
goals.
- September 2015: Limited
field testing of cameras and data management began. View the Standard Operating Procedure for
the Testing and Evaluation of the Body Worn Camera Technology.
- September 2015: The RPD
is awarded a $600,000 federal grant to fund the program.
- November 2015 - December 2015: The City held five public meetings in each
Police Section to gain community input. For more information and to view topics
discussed at these Community Input Sessions, click here.
- January 2016: City Council approved the selection of MES Lawmen Supply Company as
the BWC vendor.
- February 2016: City and MES Lawmen agreed to terms, signing a contract. Several meetings were held to identify tasks to be completed for successful implementation of the BWC Program.
- January 2016 - March 2016: RPD worked with the Rochester Police Locust Club in
developing policy for the use of BWCs. View Model Policy information.
- January 2016 - July 2016: RPD worked with the vendor to build the
infrastructure necessary for successful storage and management of the
digital evidence collected from BWCs.
- April 2016: RPD released an initial draft of the BWC policy. (Note:
Sections marked “Reserved” are part of Union Negotiations with the
Rochester Police Locust Club. Appendix B is being further developed as part
of the training curriculum). View Draft RPD BWC Draft Manual.
- July 2016 - February 2017: BWCs were deployed incrementally to
assure all systems work properly prior to full deployment. Each member was
issued a BWC and received training for its use. Once training was
completed, members began using their BWC in accordance with the BWC Manual. View the Training and Implementation Schedule.
- Click here for more project updates
- Media Release dated November 17, 2016
Questions? Comments?
If you have questions or concerns about the BWC Program, please click here.