DUPONT — Borough leaders want to equip police officers with body cameras and Tuesday they initiated the process.
At its monthly meeting, council members unanimously approved a motion to explore the best options to fit officers with the cameras.
Elected officials and the police chief all agreed cameras are a good idea for accountability, but also will be useful as evidence against suspects officers encounter.
“In many cases, officers have more evidence something happened. It’s not ‘he said, she said’ when it’s on camera,” Mayor Dan Lello said.
Lello said borough leaders have been discussing the idea for months with police Chief Sean Doran, long before the increased scrutiny on officers since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Now, they are in position to start taking action on the measure, the mayor said.
Doran, a retired state trooper, said he’s provided council members with some options on cameras.
“It’s a proactive measure in today’s world,” Doran said. “Everything that transpires is documented.”
Dupont, which is 1.5 square miles and has a population of around 2,700 people, has three full-time officers and 11 part-timers that provide round-the-clock coverage.
Council President Stanley Knick said the council needs to see if they can just add information about body cameras in policy books or if they need to pass an ordinance to implement them. He’s fully supportive.
“I think it’s a great idea. It will help everybody,” Knick said. “It will definitely be better for evidence and everything.”
Councilman Robert Price said he’s hoping officers will be wearing body cameras by the end of the year.
“We have to see what works best for us,” Price said. “We have to be as transparent as we can to the community.”
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