The Tumwater police department is getting a high-tech upgrade.
Body cameras are now on every officer’s uniform every time they leave the station.
Chief Carlos Quiles tells us all 37 Tumwater Police Officers are now fully equipped with body cameras and in-car mounted cameras using Axon technology.
“It’s a pretty important piece of equipment not only for us but for the community as well,” Quiles said.
Seattle Police were one of the first departments in the Puget Sound area to implement body cameras in 2016, with most cities getting cameras by 2022, including Olympia Police.
TPD Chief Quiles said in a smaller city, funding is harder to come by.
“In all agencies, in all cities, money is a thing,” Quiles said. “All cities have priorities, and you have to decide what time is the right time to spend the money.”
Because of the city’s diverse population, they opted for the cameras that have a unique feature: real-time translation in 51 languages.
Chief Quiles says these cameras hold everyone at a scene accountable.
“Cameras are another tool to allow us to be transparent and allow the community to show, ‘hey, our officers do the right thing,’ and this allows them to verify,” Quiles said.
He said this also helps them prove what happened in court, so there are no questions from either side.
The chief says they’re also working to secure funding for drones, saying those are helpful when searching for missing people or surveying a large crime scene.
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