Body Worn Cameras Offer University PD Simplicity and Flexibility

When Axis Communications wanted to pilot test its new body worn video cameras, it was a natural step for the video solutions company to tap the expertise of University of Wisconsin–Parkside (UW–P). The law enforcement department at this 700-acre university campus in Somers, Wis., was an early adopter of body worn cameras, having implemented their first system in 2006.

As an experienced user of body worn systems, Heller appreciated getting an invitation to meet with Axis engineers to talk about what UW–P liked and didn’t like about the products it had used in the past. “We said we would do the pilot because we’d had a long experience with body worn cameras that we could probably give some pretty good input on,” Heller says. In addition, the university already had a good working relationship with Axis, because it was using Axis network video cameras in its campus buildings and Axis onboard cameras in its police vehicles.

But the primary complaint UW–P police had with their system at the time was that it was just too time-consuming to use, Heller says. Each officer following their shift had to physically plug their camera into a desktop computer and wait for a half-hour or longer for their video to download; they then had to personally label it. “It was very time-consuming. There were no docks, like we have now with the Axis cameras,” Heller says.

The need to share footage from the body worn cameras occurs regularly. A traffic accident at which UW–P police were called to assist the Kenosha Sheriff’s Department took an unexpected turn when a subject ran from the scene and became tangled in a barbed wire fence. UW–P later handed off the camera footage to the sheriff’s department and it ultimately was used to document the arrival of officers and medical units, as well as the subject’s actions while he was being freed.

Documenting traffic accidents as well as traffic-related stops is a chief use for the body worn system at UW–P. Because the campus is located in a rural county, some of these stops take place in very dark conditions. But the low-light capabilities of the cameras document each scene visibly, such as one serious accident involving a vehicle and a pedestrian on a dark university road. 

“The biggest compliment I get from the officers is the ease of downloading the videos and charging the body worn camera on a dock,” McCullough says. “It is more user friendly and much faster than the method of our previous body camera vendor. Officers also have reported that they like being able to watch their own videos after an incident/contact. They can use the videos as a tool in writing their reports, as well as learning to improve their interactions with the public.” 

Plus, the body worn solution gives the UW–P Police Department flexibility. While investigating a sexual assault on campus, officers needed to interview a large number of witnesses. However, the department only has one interview room with one stationary camera. The body worn cameras gave officers the option to use other areas of the police facility for interviewing people and recording their statements.

The open platform nature of the solution also makes it simple to integrate with other vendors’ systems, such as an unholstering sensor. “I think it’s important that the system isn’t tied down to a proprietary format, where nothing can be linked into it. We like the flexibility of the Axis body worn cameras that allow us the option of further integration,” Heller notes.

In one such case, camera footage of an officer finding an abandoned vehicle in one of the university’s athletic parking lots proved useful to a neighboring agency. The vehicle had been used in a drive-by shooting that resulted in a homicide on the previous night in that jurisdiction. The footage was used to document exactly how the vehicle was found and the status of evidence that was recovered inside, which proved useful to the other agencies.

“We’re definitely pleased with the superior video quality and the additional features that we get with these cameras. I like the ease of navigation as a supervisor for going through the video. I just think it’s very user friendly,” Heller concurs. “Overall, Axis has just been great to work with.”