The importance of police dashboard cameras – and their limitations – was underscored last week when newly released videos failed to show events leading up to a fatal shooting involving two Lyndhurst officers.

And at the time of that 2014 incident on a Rutherford bridge, body cameras were extremely rare.

Three years later, many police departments across North Jersey still don't use any cameras, an informal survey of some of the largest police agencies by The Record and NorthJersey.com has found, with most citing cost as the barrier to adoption.

Still, both dashboard and body cameras have been pointed to as useful tools for police officers, as they can provide evidence that is useful for prosecutions, internal affairs investigations and serve as a non-biased arbiter of public complaints.

However, that utility is balanced with their cost ($500 to $1,000), the need to have large amounts of digital storage for the recordings that might have to be kept for years, and exhaustive state guidelines, particularly for body cams, regarding how they are used.

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The state Attorney General's Office does not track the use of dash cams but said earlier this year that almost half the state’s 500 police departments had taken steps to use body cameras over the past two years, receiving forfeiture funds from the state or federal grants to purchase them.

But it is not clear how many of those departments have moved ahead with purchases.

In 2015, the state reported that 176 departments had been selected to receive a total of $2.5 million for body cameras. Of those agencies, 22 later declined the offer, including Paterson and Teaneck. Last year, a 2014 state law requiring police to use dash cams or body cameras was struck down as unconstitutional because lawmakers failed to provide funding to pay for video systems.

In Bergen County, some 16 departments have been approved for funding for body cameras. Of those, at least five declined the funding, citing additional equipment costs beyond the price of the cameras.

Officials in Lyndhurst, Garfield, Bloomfield, and with the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office said in an informal survey of 20 police agencies last week that they have begun using body cameras. Ten agencies said they use dash cams. Bloomfield and the Sheriff's Office said they have been using both.

Lawrence Suffern, Englewood’s police chief, said his city decided not to accept a $33,000 grant last year to purchase 70 body cameras because it did not have the money to buy a dedicated server to store the video files or to hire someone to manage the system. For the same reasons, he said, six dash cameras that had been purchased remain unused. Both types of cameras, he said, would be helpful.

“They could be used for prosecutions or internal affairs investigations,” he said.

Pat Colligan, the president of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, called dash and body cameras “a great tool.”

A double-edged sword

But he said knowing cameras are on all the time could have a chilling effect on police officers who already feel as if they are under a microscope. And body cameras, he said, add layers of responsibilities for officers already under great pressure. The state's guidelines for the use of body cameras, he added, is “cumbersome” in some of its requirements.

A 2015 Attorney General’s directive requires officers using body cameras to turn them on “as soon as it is safe and practicable to do so” when they respond to a call, make an arrest, or use force.

The cameras are supposed to be turned off in schools, hospitals, or churches and when some witnesses request it. Officers are required to document every time they turn the camera on and off. Video files are to be tagged as sensitive if they contain certain images, such as undercover officers or children.

“We will add to the long list of things that cops have to be held accountable for,” Colligan said.

He said he feared officers who forget to turn on the cameras “in the heat of the moment” might be viewed with unwarranted suspicion.

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For example, in Minnesota last week questions were raised when two officers did not have their body cameras turned on when they responded to a call and one of them fatally shot a woman as she approached their cruiser.

James O’Connor, Lyndhurst’s police chief, said the benefits of body cameras “outweighed the costs” and they have been useful sorting out disputes during routine encounters, such as traffic stops. The township, which does not have any dash cameras, purchased 15 body cameras with state money and began using them last year.

Since then, O’Connor said, the number of complaints filed against officers has dropped, although he could not cite a specific number. In several cases, he said, civilian complaints against officers were dismissed by internal affairs investigators after a review of videos – including one out-of-state motorist who was verbally abusive to officers but alleged they were rude to him.

The chief said the township is looking to purchase a server for the system that would be able to hold about five years’ worth of videos, but said he did not have an estimated cost. The state requires videos to be held at least 90 days, but some files, including those documenting arrests, might have to be kept for years.

“The guys have adapted really well to it,” O’Connor said of the officers who have been using the cameras. “They seem to favor them because these false complaints have gone away.”

He declined to discuss videos related to the 2014 shooting, but said body cameras sometimes are more useful than dash cams, which he said provide a more “limited view.”

Dash cams don't capture 2014 shooting

On July 10, the State Supreme Court ordered law enforcement authorities to release videos and documents related to the 2014 fatal shooting of Kashad Ashford in Rutherford, ruling in favor of the North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record and NorthJersey.com and had filed a lawsuit almost three years ago after being denied those records.

Days after the ruling, the state provided three dash cam videos – but none showed the shooting or depicted a clear image of the area where Ashford, a suspect in an attempted car theft, was shot.

Authorities said two Lyndhurst officers, fearing for their lives, fired the fatal shots on Ridge Road on Sept. 16, 2014 after Ashford's SUV was surrounded by police cars and he tried to get away by backing up and ramming a Rutherford cruiser, spinning his wheels and throwing up thick clouds of smoke and debris. Two other officers discharged their weapons but did not injure anyone. A grand jury declined to indict any of the officers.

One of the officers who fired was a state trooper – and it was not clear last week why there were no state police videos from the scene. Authorities have said state police patrol vehicles have been equipped with dash cams for at least 17 years. A State Attorney General's Office spokeswoman said last week that "state vehicles were present, but I do not have any additional information."

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More body cameras being deployed

The state police announced last year that they had begun to use body cameras in South Jersey in addition to dash cams. In a survey early in 2016, the state Attorney General’s Office listed more than 200 agencies preparing to purchase more than 6,000 body cameras.

Included was the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, which already deploys 37 dash cams and was set to purchase 50 body cameras. Officials with the Sheriff’s Office said last week that the first batch of cameras they purchased proved defective when they were used and that they are expecting them to be replaced by the manufacturer.

Rutherford, which does not have dash cams, purchased 20 body cameras last year and was planning to move ahead with their deployment.

In The Record's informal survey, Bloomfield and the Bergen County Sheriff's Office were among 10 police agencies that indicated they use dash cams. The others were Butler, Dumont, Lodi, Old Tappan, Pequannock, Riverdale, Teaneck and Wanaque.

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The Paterson Police Department, which does not use dash cams, was slated to purchase 20 body cameras but backed away after authorities calculated the additional costs, said Jerry Speziale, the city’s police director.

Paterson plans to join with Jersey City and Newark to purchase body cameras and other equipment as a group to get a better price, Speziale said. He wants to start a pilot program using body cameras but said he did not know when that might happen or how it would be funded.

The director said he’s been told it could cost $300,000 to purchase dedicated servers with enough capacity to hold video for his department, which has more than 400 officers.

There would be additional costs to have someone manage the system, he said, adding that state guidelines have “so many aspects of it that are quite confusing” because officers are required to turn the cameras on and off under many different circumstances and some video files are supposed to be tagged as sensitive.

But he said the videos would “be beneficial to review” in police shootings and that “we want to do a pilot program to explore it and see how it works.”

The Record and NorthJersey.com staffers Jaimie Winters, Philip DeVencentis, Kristie Cattafi, Jai Agnish, Jessica Presinzano, Megan Burrow, Anthony Gicas, Michael Curley, Matthew Kadosh, and Matthew Fagan contributed to this article.