The La Grange Village Board Monday unanimously approved technology updates for the La Grange Police Department, including body cameras for all officers, and 10 license plate readers.
“Any incident where we’re having encounters with people that are aggressive, it’s excellent to have the body cameras,” Police Chief Timothy Griffin said after the votes.
The 2021 Illinois SAFE-T Act mandates all Illinois police departments to have body-worn camera systems operational by Jan. 1, 2025. The Village’s goal is to have the system operational well before the deadline.
The company chosen by police department staff, Getac, includes body-worn cameras for every officer, information technology hardware, and data and image storage.
Getac will also supply a fixed-camera system for the Department’s interviewing room, which will also share a platform with the body cameras and in-car cameras, previously purchased from Getac. For $69,914, the program came in under the $80,000 the Village budgeted in its Equipment Replacement Fund for Fiscal Year 2024-25. There is also a yearly data storage cost of $14,508.
Regarding when the camera system would be operational, Griffin noted the mandate’s end-of-year deadline and said, “We’re looking at well before that.”
Getac was chosen because of the Village’s experience with the firm.
“We already have Getac cameras in our squad cars, so what this will do is integrate with those cameras,” Griffin said. “When we review video cameras, we’ll have the squad car camera and the body camera all in one place.”
He also said that some of the training to take place will include training to ensure that state mandates will be followed regarding when the body cameras are to be turned on.
Griffin said that the in-car cameras had already been helpful for evidence gathering.
“For example, if we have a DUI arrest, all the field sobriety tests are recorded, which is of critical importance in showing all that,” he said.
The Flock Group is supplying the new license plate reader system which will include 10 License Plate Readers (LPRs) to be operated at strategic locations around the Village for $34,200 and a $30,000 annual fee after the first year.
Flock Group’s system is used by 86 different agencies in Cook County and is designed to detect vehicles currently associated with criminal investigations and send the information directly into the computers in squad cars.
With the next two La Grange Board meetings canceled, the next one will be at 7:30 p.m., August 26, in La Grange Village Hall, 53 S. La Grange Road.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.