Soldotna will spend nearly $170,000 to replace the camera systems used by Soldotna Police Department, including body-worn cameras, in-car cameras and the recording systems for the department’s interview and processing rooms.
According to a memo by Chief Stace Escott, included with an ordinance unanimously enacted at the Soldotna City Council’s May 28 meeting, the costs for the existing system were set to increase sharply. The existing system was purchased only during the last fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2024.
When the department looked to renew the annual contract, Escott writes, new fees for cloud storage and licensing would have raised the annual cost to $33,600. The department spent a total of $42,500 to purchase the equipment and operate it for the first year of service. Escott said the rise in cost came after the company that sold the cameras was bought by another entity.
Escott during the meeting said that his department has several issues with the recently purchased cameras.
Aside from the cameras being “heavy and large,” Escott said they are collecting data and recordings that the department doesn’t want or need. When the body cameras are activated, he said, the car cameras are as well. Often, when investigating inside a residence, that means the car camera is recording “cars driving by on the street.” That footage has to be included as evidence in a case and cannot be simply discarded.
Also, Escott says, there are issues with muting the body worn cameras — specifically that his officers aren’t able to keep some of their conversations from being recorded.
“If that mute button doesn’t work, it captures what the officers say,” he said. “It might have some disparaging comments that we often say to each other, but not the public.”
Sometimes the connection between car and body cameras fails, Escott says, or a camera will fail to start because it’s updating.
With those issues in mind, compounded by the sharp increase in annual costs, Escott said he was made to consider what the best path forward could be for the camera systems at the department.
“I didn’t want to continue throwing good money after bad, essentially; I felt like we needed to replace this,” he said.
Escott said the new system approved by the council this week, which uses hardware by Panasonic and software by BAYCOM, will better integrate with the patrol cars, will better communicate with the state evidence sharing systems, and can be run using local servers rather than a cloud system that would require additional fees.
The new cameras, Escott said, feature 360-degree views of the patrol cars and activate automatically when a gun is pulled from its holster. In all other instances, the cameras on both the car and body will need to separately be manually activated. The system also has enhanced capabilities for implementing redactions in response to public records requests.
The same technology and manufacturer will be used for upgrading the aged recording systems inside the station’s interview and processing rooms.
Council member Jordan Chilson said he was “sold” by Escott’s presentation, particularly in the value of keeping data on premises rather than again becoming beholden to a cloud subscription model.
The council voted unanimously to approve the ordinance, authorizing an appropriation of $169,564 for the general fund for purchase and maintenance of the new camera system
A full recording of the meeting, including Escott’s discussion of the old and new cameras, can be found at “City of Soldotna” on YouTube.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
