M'burgh Village Personnel to Wear Body Cameras - Crossing Guards and Meter Person

By David Avitabile

MIDDLEBURGH - Three Middleburgh village officials will soon be wearing body cameras, at least for the next six months.

At a special meeting Monday night at the village hall, board members approved a body-worn camera policy on a trial basis for the next six months. Board members agreed to have the crossing guards and meter person wear the body cameras. If the policy proves effective, the use of body cameras could be extended in September.

The video quality of the cameras is "outstanding," Mayor Tim Knight said and would be able to catch people driving by stopped school buses.

The policy has been recommended by the county Sheriff's office and modeled after a policy from the New York Conference of Mayors, the Mayor said. The policy is geared toward parking enforcement and school crossing and not police enforcement.

All board members were in favor of the policy.

Trustee Kevin Young said the cameras "make sense" and will help keep everyone accountable. Amanda Fernandez said she liked the section of the policy that stated that officials could only review tapes for a specific incident. Trustee Sheryl Adams and Bob Tinker also favored the cameras. "They are definitely needed, unfortunately," Mr. Tinker said. He also asked that the village look into naming constables.

Mayor Knight noted that the cameras "make a lot of noise" and emit a red light, so residents will know when they are being recorded.

The cameras will be returned weekly to download images. The images will be subject to Freedom of Information requests from the public. FOIL requests would have to be very specific on the times for the images.

Village attorney Fred Mauhs said he reviewed the policy and had some concerns. He said he had concerns about privacy and the amount of time needed to to delete old images, edit images, and answer FOIL requests. Overall, it is a good idea and would be a "no brainer" if there was no cost, the attorney said.

He did note that agencies that had body cams saw a significant reduction in complaints.

No residents were at the meeting to comment on the issue.