Dixon Police chief addresses options for body cameras

DIXON – The Dixon Police Department is preparing a plan to outfit its fleet of officers with body cameras sooner rather than later.

The General Assembly passed a massive criminal justice reform omnibus earlier this year, which was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker in February and goes into effect July 1. The bill includes requiring all law enforcement to use body cameras by 2025, with earlier deadlines for larger cities.

Police Chief Steve Howell recently presented to the City Council that the department is planning to meet that requirement ahead of time. The city discussed implementing body cameras a few years ago when creating a capital improvement plan but waited because of the cost.

The expensive part of the project will be storage for the videos rather than the cost of equipment.

“It’s been a big discussion. The state has forced our hands to move to them,” Howell said. “It’s just another tool for the officers, and we’re looking to move toward that.”

The cameras will be a benefit with transparency, and it will provide footage of an incident in addition to the department’s squad car cameras.

“The biggest thing with the body cameras, of course, is that it gives you a better picture of an encounter through the cameras,” he said. “It’s not the end-all of solving the problems with a situation, but it does help us have extra video of the encounter.”

The city will likely begin connecting squad car cameras to a cloud system during the winter, and then body cameras could be added at any point, Information Technology Manager Allen Philhower said.

The cost would likely be around $180,000 across 5 years for 30 body cameras and nine squad car cameras. The project would need to go to the council for approval.

People usually change their behavior when they know they’re being recorded, and Howell said studies at other departments have shown a decrease in complaints and altercations.

“It holds everyone accountable, whether it’s a citizen or an officer,” he said.