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6.D. - Page 8 of 179 <br />interviews with law enforcement personnel, the Grand Jury concludes that body -worn cameras <br />are a net positive in law enforcement. <br />Local law enforcement officials informed the Grand Jury of the following perceived advantages <br />and disadvantages to the utilization of body -worn cameras by their officers: <br />Advantages of Body -Worn Cameras12 <br />• Reducing complaints: <br />o Police behavior is improved and the use of force is reduced. <br />o Resident behavior is improved. <br />• Providing unedited video evidence of decisions made by officers in <br />high-intensity situations <br />• Increasing transparency and accountability of police officers' activities and improving <br />community perception of law enforcement <br />• Providing valuable evidence in court proceedings and/or in obtaining witness <br />and victim statements <br />Disadvantages of Body -Worn Cameras13 <br />• Officers must manually activate/deactivate the camera in most systems in use today. <br />• Policy development has potential for risk (e.g., privacy issues, chain of custody, <br />and officer activation of camera) due to lack of clarity as to applicable federal and/or <br />state law. <br />• Technology is changing rapidly, which may limit product support after a few years' use. <br />Replacement equipment may be costly. Future local, state, and/or federal legal and policy <br />mandates could add to overall costs. <br />• Increased Public Records Act requests could add to administrative costs such as locating <br />a video segment, redacting or blurring images of individuals not relevant to the incident, <br />documenting changes, and copying the specific video segment. <br />The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and other local law enforcement agencies use many <br />forms of modern technology including audio recorders worn on police officers, automobile <br />dashboard cameras ("dash cams"), and gunshot detection systems, 14 as well as surveillance <br />technologies such as license plate readers and closed-circuit TV. All of these technologies have <br />12 Officials from San Mateo County law enforcement: interviews by the Grand Jury. Adapted from Atherton Police <br />Department document. <br />13 Ibid. <br />14 A gunfire locator, or gunshot detection system, is a system that detects and conveys the location of gunfire <br />or other weapon fire using acoustic, optical, potentially other types of sensors, as well as a combination of <br />such sensors. <br />2015-2016 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury 4 <br />47 <br />