Fishers Police officers are already being equipped with body cams, with the expectation that all officers will have the cameras by early 2020.  Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart told the Police Merit Commission Friday that this was the goal of his department in rolling out the video technology.

The city’s 2020 budget calls for a full time civilian position in the police department to primarily maintain the body camera program.  This is the only additional staff member for the department in 2020, according to Chief Gebhart.  The civilian employee will be involved in responding to public records requests.

The body cam deployment is being partially funded by a $120,000 federal grant.

School Resource Officers (SROs) will have body cameras installed, Gebhart said.

The policy for retaining the videos will be in line with state law.  State statute requires the videos be retained for 180 days, but the city plans to keep them a bit longer than that requirement, possibly 200 days.

The city is utilizing a cloud-based system for storage, which will provide access for officers, authorized users and personnel at the prosecutor’s office without the need to record and playback on video disks.

For a member of the public to access a police body camera video, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request must be submitted.  City Attorney Chris Greisl told the Merit Commission there are state laws requiring that some images on these videos be obscured.

When requesting a police body cam video, Greisl says the person making the request must provide some basic information, such as naming the person at the scene (other than the officer), and knowing the time and date of the incident.

Chief Gebhart also updated the commission on hiring officers, hoping to be at full strength in 2020 with 119 sworn positions filled.  The chief expects at least one retirement in 2020, and there could be others.