The Chesterton Town
Council has approved the purchase of a body and in-car camera system for use
by CPD officers.
At their meeting
Monday night, members voted unanimously to approve a resolution authorizing
a “special purchase” of the system--Bodyworn by Utility Associates
Inc.--under Indiana Code 5-22-10.
Total cost over
five years: $212,900.
The resolution was
necessary so as to exempt the CPD from going out to bid, Associate Town
Attorney Julie Paulson explained, after Police Chief Dave Cincoski
determined that the Bodyworn system “costs much less than competing systems
and has a much higher functionality.” Paulson noted in particular that one
of those competing systems would cost the town an additional $347,000 over
five years for the same electronic storage offered by Bodyworn.
Cincoski told
members that, though in-car camera systems have been in use for quite some
time, the tech has recently “vastly improved.” Body cams, on the other hand,
are relatively new--in use for some three to five years--and until now,
Cincoski said, he’s been content to take a wait-and-see approach to their
acquisition.
Member Emerson
DeLaney, R-5th--and the council’s liaison to the CPD--attended a demo of the
Bodyworn system in January. “This body cam by far is head and shoulders
above the rest,” he told his colleagues.
“I read your report
and it looks like it’s a lot better than the other two systems,” agreed
Member Dane Lafata, D-3rd.
Cincoski noted that
funds for the acquisition have already been budgeted and will come out of a
couple of different line items: Radio/Communications and Training.
At its meeting last
week, the Police Commission endorsed a new Standard Operating Procedure
governing the use of body and in-car cameras, as reported in detailed by the
Chesterton Tribune in its Friday, Feb. 8, edition.
Special Projects
Coordinator
In other business,
members voted unanimously to name MS4 Operator Jennifer Gadzala the town’s
Special Projects Coordinator, a newly created part-time position whose brief
is the implementation of projects to “enhance Chesterton’s economic,
beautification, and vitalization goals.”
Gadzala will report
to Town Manager Bernie Doyle and Town Engineer Mark O’Dell.
The position pays
$2,500 in the first year, with a bump in the second to $5,000 based on
performance.
Numerous municipal
employees applied for the position, Doyle told the council, and he and
DeLaney--who together reviewed the applications--were impressed by just how
“diverse and deep the talent pool is” in the town. “Sometimes we need to be
reminded of that.”
West Morgan Ave.
Meanwhile, Utility
Superintendent Dave Ryan reported that he’s hopeful the contractor on the
West Morgan Ave. sewer re-lining project will finish the job this week.”
“We’ve had some
weather challenges,” Ryan said.