After considerable debate, the Salem City Council Monday night unanimously approved in-car cameras for the three squad cars that currently do not have them.
The debate came over the $19,841 cost since it is not budgeted.
Police Chief Sean Reynolds brought up the issue after being approved with a $600 per camera discount by CDS Technologies who has equipped the other squad cars.
“We are just trying to keep up in such a way that we won’t need to replace several systems at once. Right now we’re in good shape, these are the same systems that we have, just a newer system. This way we would have all of our cars, all of our patrol cars, with a system, because currently we do not. We want all of our patrol cars to have this system.”
Finance Director Kelly Barrow says the city will be receiving $15,000 in money from the FBI as proceeds from drug forfeiture money earned by the Southeast Illinois Drug Task Force of which the city is a member. Barrow noted the city is required to spend the money on the police department.
Councilman Jim Koehler noted he didn’t like to spend money not in the budget, he didn’t like squad cars without the cameras either. He eventually agreed to vote ‘yes’ since they would be able to recoup most of the money.
Mayor Pro-Tem Nick Farley agreed and noted the purchase would protect the city against future liability.
Reynolds says the cameras automatically turn on whenever the squad car lights are activated. Video footage is downloaded automatically every time one of the squad cars pulls into the police station.
