FAQs

A camera worn on the officer’s uniform that captures audio and video in real time. Most officers will wear their cameras on the chest area.

BPD has adopted the WatchGuard camera system.

Each officer within the police department will be issued a BWC. The BWC’s will be operated within BPD policies and best practices set forth by the International Association of Chief’s of Police.

This project is more than just adding cameras. It impacts Police, Information Technology and the Commonwealth’s Attorney, allowing the police department to assess workloads for each officer and ensure BPD are meeting the demands and standards associated with law enforcement.

Yes. We have spent a great deal of time researching model policies to decide what would be included in our policy. It is based on the Department of Criminal Justice’s model body worn camera policy.  

Initially, officers in Patrol and select members of the Detective Bureau will wear the cameras. Officer assignments will be regularly reviewed for future assignments.

No. Officers will have the cameras available for use during their shifts, and will only activate them when conducting official business.

The red light indicator on the cameras will likely be turned off for safety reasons. Officers will advise citizens when encounters are being recorded if it is safe, reasonable and practical to do so. In most cases, it is best to assume that the encounter is being recorded. Citizens may ask the officer if the BWC is recording.

No. Officers will not be able to edit the video in any way. They will be able to tag (label) the videos after they are recorded for tracking purposes.

Like other departments across the country, BPD is implementing body cameras as another tool to gather evidence, provide information about police interactions, increase accountability and strengthen the relationships we have with our community. The footage documents the behavior of officers and citizens during an encounter. It can be used as evidence in court as well as in internal investigations. Research on the use of body-worn cameras has shown a reduction in citizen complaints against the police and similar reductions in use of force and assaults on officers.

Officers will not record public protests or in places where an expectation of privacy exists, such as restrooms, jails, courtrooms, or hospitals, unless the officer is conducting official business and believes the recording will be material to a criminal or administrative investigation.

The 5-year plan to implement all technology is expected to cost under $500,000.

All videos are initially stored in secured cloud servers as part of the BWC contract with WatchGuard. These servers are compliant with FBI Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) standards to ensure privacy and security measures are met. If information is determined to be beneficial to an active investigation, we will copy the video to an internal server and hold it for the length of time required by law.

BPD is aware of the many privacy concerns of those captured in recordings. Our officers will record, per policy, when conducting official business. If a video is to be released to the public, we will redact information that is not pertinent to the specific event. This includes bystanders, juveniles, personal information, and other non-related identifiers such as license plate numbers and addresses. Our priority is to protect your privacy rights and safeguard non-related parties and information.

You may request that the officer stop recording, however, officers are required by policy to record an entire encounter when they are conducting official business. 

The release of any BWC recording to anyone outside of the BPD must be approved in advance by the Chief of Police or the Chief’s designee. BWC recordings shall be released when required by (i) a court order which is final and not subject to appeal, (ii) a subpoena duces tecum which is not subject to a motion to quash, (iii) the rules of discovery when no motion to quash is filed or written objection is made, or (iv) the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, Virginia Code § 2.2-3700 et seq., when not prohibited by law and no exemption is invoked. The Chief of Police may authorize the release of any BWC recording deemed to be in the best interest of the community and public safety.