Body cams worn by Ohio State Troopers in District 6, including Knox County, will improve accountability by showing exactly what they see during incidents and investigations.
Gov. Mike DeWine in November instructed the Ohio Department of Public Safety to make sure all troopers wore body cams. This effort means 1,550 body cams and 1,221 new in-car systems will distributed and installed over a 5-year period at a cost of $15 million.
“Some of the advantages would be that you're going to be able to see a different perspective from what that trooper is seeing,” Sgt. Brice Nihiser told the Mount Vernon News. “So, on something like an OVI or a drug investigation, you're going to see a lot more of what the trooper is seeing as opposed to what our traditional dash cams used to capture.”
For incidents such as impaired driving, criminal and drug investigations, body cams will play a large role because the video will capture information previously unavailable.
“As far as accountability, the Highway Patrol has always been a very transparent organization about our operations and how we conduct business,” he said.
The body cams will show the work troopers are doing, giving the department the tools needed to make sure they do things the right way, Nihiser said.
The cameras might improve morale because the system requires less work for the individual trooper, who just has to put the body cam on his or her uniform.
“It's just one more piece of equipment, one more tool in our toolbox that we're able to use day to day to make sure that we're providing the best service to the citizens of Ohio that we can,” he said.
Body cams are strengthening policing because they show the public, a prosecutor or a jury exactly what troopers see and why someone is being charged. They are welcomed by troopers because they present a different viewpoint.
“We've been behind the camera, or I guess in front of a camera, for more than 20 years at this point,” Nihiser said. “And this is just going to continue to strengthen our operations and it's going to continue to show the people of Ohio the important work that we do.”
