Former Lima Police Major Patrick Coon held up a body camera set to be worn by Lima Police officers during the body camera program’s initial rollout in 2018. Lima City Council voted to approve a nearly $600,000 purchase of replacement body cameras and cruiser cameras Monday.
File Photo | The Lima News
LIMA — They have been a part of every Lima Police officer’s uniform and gear since 2018, and on Monday, Lima City Council voted to approve a purchase of more than a half million dollars to replace the body and dashboard cameras currently in use at the department.
Council members unanimously approved the purchase from Scottsdale, Arizona-based Axon Enterprises, which includes 60 body cameras and 30 cameras for police cruisers for a total cost of $592,439.08, including the necessary software and a service agreement.
According to a letter sent to council by Lima Police Chief Angel Cortes and Maj. James Baker, a grant from the Ohio Department of Public Safety will cover $107,184 of the cost, with the remainder coming out of the city’s capital funds.
As chair of council’s safety services committee, Fifth Ward Councilor Jamie Dixon spoke about the purchase and how he felt the benefits of the cameras have been worth the cost.
“When these cameras are in active use, what we want is for them to help keep our citizens protected and safe, as well as our officers,” Dixon said. “In the past when we first talked about body cameras and things of that nature, it was all about accountability and making sure that we have that extra set of eyes that doesn’t wink and doesn’t blink but always stays on to hold every individual, both our officers and our citizens, accountable.”
Using body cameras has been met with resistance at the Allen County Sheriff’s Office in the years since they came into use in Lima. Sheriff Matt Treglia has pointed consistently to concerns over maintaining privacy for people caught on camera who are not under investigation, especially if they are being filmed in a compromised position, such as in a state of undress.
“(The sheriff is) not opposed to body cameras in any way,” Allen County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Andre McConnahea told The Lima News in January. “The only opposition he has is the fact that the legislation (regarding public access to body camera footage) still does not protect citizens’ privacy in their own homes, and until the legislation moves in that direction he’s simply not willing to do it.”
In additional business, Public Information Officer Jessica Begonia announced prior to the meeting that Mayor Sharetta Smith appointed Health Partners of Western Ohio CEO Janis Sunderhaus to the Allen County Board of Public Health, as well as real estate broker Tim Stanford to the city’s planning commission.
Reach Craig Kelly at 567-242-0391 or on Twitter @cmkelly419.
