MLPD to get new bodycams, plate readers

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake police officers are going to get new body cameras as older models begin to wear out.

“We got these body cameras in 2016, they are six years old, and we’re starting to see failures,” Moses Lake Police Chief Kevin Fuhr said.

At a regular city council meeting on Tuesday, Fuhr told city council members the body cameras currently used by the MLPD are beginning to show their age. Fuhr also said a new state law requires police officers to record all interviews, and current camera equipment simply does not allow the MLPD to comply with the new law.

Council members unanimously approved a request from Fuhr to spend slightly more than $48,000 to buy 52 new cameras and 7 docking stations to charge them, with the money coming from a $100,000 state grant to help the MLPD comply with the new law.

Council Member Deanna Martinez asked Fuhr if the request would provide a body camera for every MLPD officer, including the new mental health specialist from Renew — formerly Grant Integrated Services, Grant County’s behavioral health agency — expected to join officers this fall.

“Yes, that includes animal control, but not the mental health person. They will not be our employee,” Fuhr said.

Council members also approved a request from Fuhr to spend $75,000 on cameras that can read license plates. Called automated license plate readers (ALPR), Fuhr said the MLPD already has one mobile camera in a patrol vehicle and would like to equip more cars with mobile cameras and deploy a few stationary cameras across the city.

Fuhr said the city of Yakima recently set up a number of stationary cameras, which use text recognition software to discern a license plate that can then be compared with a database of stolen vehicles or vehicles owned by wanted suspects, and within a 30-day period detected 68 stolen vehicles and arrested six people. He also told council members about a recent incident of vandalism in which a vehicle driven by suspects in the crime was caught on video. Had the city had an ALPR system in place, it is likely the vandals could have been apprehended.

“ALPR is the next big thing in law enforcement since DNA testing,” Fuhr said. “It helps out not just with stolen vehicle recovery but also with criminal activity.”

Fuhr said the money for the license plate readers will come from a separate state grant given to the MLPD under a program to assist police departments in high-crime communities.

Council Member Dustin Swartz, however, wondered just how long videos, images and license plate numbers of vehicles would remain on the MLPD’s system.

“It’s only effective if the equipment is recording traffic,” Swartz noted.

Fuhr responded that while the system takes images of all license plates and officers can save images for as long as they need to, by default the ALPR system only keeps those license plate images stored for 60-90 days.

“They’re not just sitting out there, always,” Fuhr said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.