Body Worn Cameras
A body-worn camera (BWC) is a video and audio recording device worn by a Hoffman Estates Police Officer which allows an event to be recorded and saved as a digital file. BWCs can be a highly effective tool, providing an unalterable audio and visual recording of interactions that capture empirical evidence in the event of a crime, police-public interaction, or use of force incident.
Frequently Asked Questions
Law enforcement officers across the United States are using body-worn cameras (BWCs) as a promising tool to improve evidentiary outcomes, enhance safety, and improve interactions between officers and the public. BWCs also are proving to be an important tool to assist broader law enforcement, problem-solving, and community engagement strategies within our jurisdiction.
Department members are required to activate their body worn cameras (BWC) prior to initiating, or upon arrival at, any enforcement or investigative contact involving a member of the public including all:
- Vehicle stops;
- Pedestrian stops (including self-initiated consensual encounters);
- Calls for service;
- Code 3 responses; including vehicle pursuits;
- Foot pursuits;
- Searches;
- Arrests;
- Use of Force, including any transportation of a subject;
- In-custody transports of persons who are uncooperative, belligerent, or threatening;
- Suspect, victim, and witness interviews; and/or
- Any encounter with a member of the public who is or becomes uncooperative, belligerent or otherwise hostile.
- Transportation of a member of the public; and/or
- Other investigative or enforcement activities where, in the Department member's judgement, a video recording would assist in the investigation or prosecution of a crime or when a recording of an encounter would assist in documenting the incident for later investigation or review.
Department members may stop a recording of the body worn camera (BWC) during a required activation period with a member of the public when:
If a recording exception is utilized by a BWC equipped HEPD Officer, they shall;
- A witness or victim refuses to provide a recorded statement and the encounter is non-confrontational;
- In the Department members judgement, a recording would interfere with their ability to conduct an investigation, or may be inappropriate, because of the victim or witness' physical condition, emotional state, age, or other sensitive circumstances (i.e. a victim of rape, incent, or other form of sexual assault);
- The recording would risk the safety of a confidential informant, community member informant, or undercover officer; and/or
- Inside patient-care areas of a hospital, or other healthcare facility unless an enforcement action is taken in these areas.
- It is also recognized that SRO's often have conversations with students/staff that are unrelated to the investigation of a crime and fall under the definition of a community caretaking function.
If a recording exception is utilized by a BWC equipped HEPD Officer, they shall;
- Announce the reason for stopping the video prior to turning the BWC recording off;
- Document the deactivation reason in the metadata file for the event in the Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS); and
- Document the deactivation in any associated written report.
Body worn cameras provide additional information during public interactions to ensure transparency, accountability, and increases our ability to reduce criminal and civil liability. BWCs will also allow personnel to collect evidence for use in criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Research has shown that when officers are outfitted with BWCs, citizen complaints decrease, use of force incident decrease, subject behavior improves, transparency and public trust is enhanced and cost savings are provided due to decreased litigation.
Research has shown that when officers are outfitted with BWCs, citizen complaints decrease, use of force incident decrease, subject behavior improves, transparency and public trust is enhanced and cost savings are provided due to decreased litigation.
The video files are stored in a cloud-based service managed by Axon and hosted on MS Azure Government Cloud. Axon and MS offer CJIS (FBI Security Standards) and Fed RAMP complaint cloud environment for government agencies. In addition, the evidence stored on behalf of the Hoffman Estates Police Department has redundant backups and several protections to protect the integrity of the digital evidence we collect. Files are uploaded via the internet utilizing the most current security standards with end-to-end encryption.
Consistent with Hoffman Estates' commitment to transparency and accountability, the Department is committed to releasing video related to critical incidents or as requested under the Freedom of Information Act. The FOIA protocol established in the Law Enforcement Officer Body-worn Camera Act shall be followed when reviewing public requests for information.
All body worn camera (BWC) recordings will be stored by the cloud-based Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) and will be retained for a minimum of 90 days from the date of the recording. Under no circumstances will any recording made with the BWC be altered, erased or destroyed prior to the expiration of the 90-day storage period.