CONNIE SWINNEY • PICAYUNE STAFF
Granite Shoals Police Chief J.P. Wilson outfitted nine officers with body cameras in October to help document incidents and provide digital video evidence for court cases. Staff photo by Connie Swinney
GRANITE SHOALS — A rural agency has become the second in Burnet County to equip its officers with body cameras to add another tool to their crime-fighting arsenal, officials say.
Nine officers from the Granite Shoals Police Department started wearing the digital-remote cameras in mid-October.
The agency, which serves the community of about 5,000 people, is located five miles west of Marble Falls on Lake LBJ.
“You look at a lot of situations across the country where there’s questions about whether the officers were justified in using force,” Capt. Gary Boshears said. “In almost every situation where it’s controversial or there’s a question about (an investigation), there’s no video or it’s off video, and you have a long drawn-out process to determine justification. But if you have two minutes of video, it’s going to answer the question right there.”
Until now, Granite Shoals officers relied on officer audio equipment or vehicle-mounted digital cameras to help gather data for an investigation.
“In the past, if there was a question about what happened, we had to rely on statements,” Boshears said. “It’s going to help with accountability purposes. There’s going to be nothing that happens off camera.”
Officials said the cameras will chronicle protocols, decisions and actions as well as potential evidence.
“It covers the city. It protects the officer. It guarantees we’ll have far better prosecution,” Chief J.P. Wilson said. “This lets you see what we’re walking into when we walk into a house. It allows us for better prosecution for the courts to be able to see this, to have their eyes on exactly what we’re seeing.”
The Bertram Police Department, located 12 miles east of Burnet, was the first agency to utilize the cameras about a year ago.
“Technology has improved a lot, especially in the last few years. The cost finally started to come down. These cost less than $1,000 a unit versus $3,000 to $4,000 per unit,” Wilson said. “It can be repaired and serviced here in our office … I hope the rest of the departments get on board and start doing it.”
Such devices could help eliminate doubt in the courtroom, officials said.
“All of our officers love it because it eliminates the questions,” Boshears said. “For instance, if you walk up to to a car and you see something illegal, some contraband in the driver’s lap, it eliminates the question of, ‘Are you sure you actually saw that?’ It’s on the on-officer camera, so yes, we saw it.”
connie@thepicayune.com
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