Owatonna police update patrol cars with new dash camera system

The Owatonna Police Department recently outfitted its patrol cars with new dash cameras that sync to the body cameras worn by its officers.
That means that when an officer turns on the patrol car’s lights and siren to pull a vehicle over, the dash camera automatically turns on the officer’s body camera. Previously, officers had to turn on the body cameras manually.
“The old mobile video recorders [in the police cars] were at the end of their life and out of warranty,” said Capt. Jeff Mundale of the Owatonna Police Department.
“This was the right time to replace it,” said Mundale, adding that the cost of an extended warranty on the old recorders would have been $10,600 a year compared to the $6,750 cost of the new dash camera system.
The new system reduces the chances of officer error, according to Mundale.
While state law doesn’t mandate when the cameras must be on, Mundale said city policy does.
Since the inception of the body camera program in December of 2019, Owatonna police officers have been required to turn their body cameras on for all pedestrian and traffic stops, during the execution of search warrants, when interviewing a suspect, during arrests and during any adversarial encounter with the public. Officers also can turn them on at their discretion, said Mundale, adding that an officer might choose to turn the camera on if the recording might have evidentiary value in the future.
“Body cameras enhance the mission of the department by accurately capturing contacts between members of the department and the public,” said Mundale.
Even before the department’s body camera program began, officers in the department were onboard. “They actually tested the cameras and helped choose the vendor we purchased the equipment from,” said Mundale.
“Officers like to wear body cams because of the increased transparency and accountability,” said Mundale. “You also want to maintain the integrity of the investigation.”
Video evidence can be powerful, as Minnesotans and the nation witnessed in the death of George Floyd.
And with more and more members of the public recording interactions with police, Mundale said one of the things the officers like about wearing body cameras is that an officer’s body camera video captures the whole police-citizen encounter – things that the public might not see or think to record.
Cameras, said Mundale, tend to alter one’s behavior because everyone involved knows they are being observed. “It’s called the Hawthorne Effect.”
In 2020, Owatonna police body cameras captured 28,836 videos, accounting for nearly 12,000 hours of video. And depending on the type of event recorded, policy requires that the videos be stored a minimum of 90 days and up to 7 years for arrests, citizen evidentiary contacts, crash investigations and cases involving the use of force. Body camera videos involving criminal sexual conduct and death investigations must be stored permanently.
Mundale himself is extremely pleased with the body camera program and the results it’s produced.
“We have never had an instance that didn’t have video when an officer’s action warranted review,” said Mundale. “Most reviews are internal. And, no citizen-generated complaints have been substantiated since going to body cams.”
He estimated that there have been fewer than a dozen complaints in the 16-months since the program began, and none involved excessive use of force in arrest situations.
In addition to recording video, officers can use their body cameras to make audio recordings and take still photographs. They can also be used as a telephone.