Council pushing costly camera upgrade

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Citing a need to "restore the community trust" in the Austin Police Department, Council Member Sheryl Cole on Monday called on her colleagues to finance a multi-million dollar digital camera system in patrol cars.

In the wake of a May 11 fatal shooting of Nathaniel Sanders by Officer Quintana - who did not have his dashboard camera turned on during the incident - Police Chief Art Acevedo increased the possible penalties for officers who do not record certain confrontations. All police cars are equipped with a camera. Those officers who do not use them may be fired going forward.

But Cole, while supporting Acevedo's new rule, argued that new digital cameras with automatic-recording technology are needed. Flanked by representatives from the NAACP, the League of United Latin-American Citizens and the Austin Police Association, Cole said the new system would benefit both public safety officers and citizens.

City Manager Marc Ott and a team of technology experts and police are currently researching alternatives to the current dash cameras, which record onto VHS tapes.

While the exact cost of a digital system is not yet known, Cole suggested the council could fund the improvement over time. In addition to initial capital costs, the council may have to allocate funds for bandwidth capacity and technological upgrades for the police department as a whole.