King City Police unveil weapon-mounted cameras

KING CITY, Calif. (KION) King City Police gave a first-hand look at the weapon-mounted cameras designed to assist in police shooting investigations.

King City PD is the first department implementing this technology department-wide.

Body cams will remain a part of sworn-officer's gear, but the new gun cameras will provide a better perspective on whether police are using excessive force.

Brian Hedeen is President and CEO of Viridian which is supplying the gear.

Hedeen says this equipment is important in making sure the public and jurors get as much transparent information as possible regarding police shootings.

“These scenarios will continue to play out across the country," Hedeen says. "and now more than ever it’s imperative we know what really happened.”

Hedeen says there are three advantages to having these cameras. The first involves providing a clearer view to any incident, something King City Police Chief Robert Masterson agrees with.

“An officer’s standard stance tends to cover the body camera," says Chief Masterson. "That’s a critical piece of information that a jury, quite frankly, demands to see.”

The camera, itself, is activated as soon as the officer draws the weapon from a specially designed holster.

The recordings are then physically extracted and stored onto a digital server by police.

"Adding this tool will make them [police officers] more accountable to our community and protect our officers," says King City Mayor Mike LeBarre.

Aside from police shooting investigations, the recordings can be used for training purposes, too.

"We found that we can capture deficiencies in an officer's shooting ability at the range that are normally more difficult to capture," says Chief Masterson.

Masterson also says the department hasn't had an officer-involved shooting incident in about 15 years.

The new cameras will roll along with police body cams and dash cams. Items of which were updated back in 2018.

The overall cost of the new gear is around $12,000 according to police and is a payment agreement that was agreed upon as early as December of 2019.

It's one of many steps King City Police have taken following a corruption investigation into the department that led to the dismissal of multiple officers in 2014.