New body cameras arrive at Salinas police

Salinas police officers will soon be wearing body cameras. The devices have arrived and NewsChannel 5 got a sneak peak Tuesday.

The departmentbought 70 body cameras, mostlyusing money from grants.The goal is to have all uniformed officers out on the streets with the new equipment sometime in June. First, they will have to go through several weeks of training.

“This is a really big change for the officers,” said Salinas police Commander Mike Groves.

And with every big change comes new rules. According to the policy, officers will be expected torecord any type of enforcement action.

But since this is new territory for the department, Groves said the policy is evolving.

“You just can’t describe every situation when a camera should go on. Some of it will certainly be at the officer’s discretion, just like everything that they do on their job,” said Groves.

Unlike other departments that already have cameras, Salinas police said their cameras will be turned on at the beginning of the shift and will always be on. But to actually record, the officer will hit a large button.

The video will then capture the previous 30 seconds and it can’t be edited.

The department expects there will be an adjustment period for officers.

“They’re talking on the radio, they’re figuring out where they are going. If they’re driving with lights and sirens they have to monitor all the traffic,” said Groves. And some of this is even before they get out of the car. “Now they have to turn on the camera,” added Groves.

Still, department leaders said eventually officers will get used to the cameras. After all, the devices act like a portable witness.