January 29, 2003
Lawrenceville,
NJ—Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel
G. Giaquinto today announced his proposed plan to install in-car video cameras
in all police patrol cars in Mercer County.
Joined by Vaughn McKoy, First Deputy Director of the New Jersey Division
of Criminal Justice and representatives from all of Mercer County’s police
departments, Prosecutor Giaquinto stated that in-car video systems are valuable
public safety tools benefiting both the police and the public.
“In-car
video cameras provide police and prosecutors with visual evidence of a
defendant’s conduct involving a wide variety of criminal and motor vehicle
violations while, at the same time, protecting police officers from false
accusations of misconduct. The
public also benefits from in-car video by exposing those few instances where a
police officer’s conduct is unlawful or otherwise falls outside the accepted
bounds of professionalism,” Giaquinto said.
According to Prosecutor Giaquinto, he has authorized approximately
$500,000 in forfeiture funds for this undertaking which will underwrite the cost
of the video cameras for approximately 75% of all patrol cars that are not
presently equipped with video cameras. Municipal
police departments will be required to equip the remaining 25% of patrol
vehicles.
The prosecutor indicated that the in-car video systems will be installed
by Mobile-Vision of Boonton, New Jersey which has installed over 28,000 systems
in all 50 states.
Prosecutor Giaquinto stated that each municipal governing body will
receive a letter in the next few days explaining the complete details of the
program and a timetable to opt into the program.
The prosecutor commended Pennington Borough and Princeton Borough, who already have their patrol cars equipped with in-car video, for “their foresight in enhancing public safety”.