2024 Police Annual Report

AXON BODY-WORN CAMERAS AND IN-CAR CAMERAS

2024 was the second year of body-worn camera usage. In 2023, specialized redaction software was acquired early in the year to assist with increased FOIA requests. Winning a grant for data storage worth $52,625.00 helped alleviate some of the cost and an additional grant was applied for as reimbursement for the actual camera hardware. This came two years ahead of the state mandates in the SAFE-T Act, exemplifying that the Orland Park Police Department continues to set the example. With a cost of nearly $1 million, the police have outfitted, trained and deployed this equipment in the field for daily use. The immense amount of storage required to maintain this data and the demands of a huge uptick in FOIA requests have taxed the agency beyond their initial scope, however, we have continued to exceed expectations. Since the issuance of body-worn cameras, nearly every officer has seen the benefit of wearing them. Not only do they assist officers with recalling specific details of incidents, but they also have directly resulted in only one sustained citizen complaint on an officer for all of 2023 and 2024. Additionally, after some of the major incidents, administration is able to review the footage from several officers in order to build a more detailed and thorough debriefing of the incident. The members of the Orland Park Police Department are happy to have this resource available to them.

CAMERAS

ORLANDPARK.ORG

POLICE ANNUAL REPORT | 53