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“We are taking advantage of new technology to improve safety,” Saudino said during a news conference in Hackensack.
Working with Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, the sheriff said he will buy 47 cameras with $70,000 in forfeiture funds and federal grant money for a pilot program.
Under law, all new police cars must have dashboard or body cameras of both, Saudino said.
He noted that his department — which now includes the former county police department, rechristened the Bergen County Bureau of Police Services — has more officers on the road than any other in the county.
“Good government demands we put public safety over politics, working to get positive results for all,” Saudino said.
“We are challenged by the events of society and the effects of those events on law enforcement,” he said. “It is the 21st century, and we can’t sit by and only be reactive.”
A committee will be appointed to come up with procedures and policies for using the cameras.
“It’s important to have written protocols to protect the civil liberties of police and civilians,” Saudino said.
Bergen County is in a unique position, Tedesco said.
“In many parts of the country cameras have been implemented in response to a tragedy — and in many cases the cameras would have made a difference,” he said.
“We fortunate in Bergen that we have the luxury of being proactive,” Tedesco said. “We are not waiting because we believe this is a tool to protect the police AND the public.”
Investigators have said body cameras will provide evidence that can only help make police work easier in a society where citizens are quick to pull out cellphones and record portions of encounters — sometimes from obstructed vantage points.
Civil libertarians, meanwhile, say they will help keep officers in check.
Legislators in Trenton have considered requiring body cameras but haven’t passed any measures yet.
STORY / PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia
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