William Johnson

Within days, Opelousas police officers will be equipped with body cameras.

“These cost $400 each,” Police Chief Perry Gallow said as he demonstrated the new gear. “It is costly, but funding shouldn’t be an issue when you are talking about the safety of the public.”

The cameras, which can record up to 10 hours of footage, are tiny — only a few inches across. They attach directly to the front of an officer’s uniform.

In all, the department is purchasing 30 cameras, enough to equip all patrol officers.

“You hardly know you are wearing it. It weighs almost nothing,” said officer Romalis Thomas, who was one of the first to receive training on the new equipment. “I love it. I think this will be a very helpful tool and will help with solving crimes.”

Thomas said he hopes a side benefit will be keeping incidents from getting out of hand.

“It will be a deterrent. Both the officer and individual will be on their best behavior because they know they are being videotaped,” Thomas said.

“This will help in so many ways,” Gallow agreed. “First and foremost is safety for the officer and the general public.”

Larger and richer law enforcement agencies have used body cameras for years. Gallow said recent grand jury decisions not to indict police in Ferguson, Missouri, last month and in New York City this week encouraged him to act now.

“This is an age in which law enforcement isn’t believed as much as in the past,” Gallow said.

He said that lack of trust in law enforcement saddens him but added, “I do understand times have changed. We are living in a new era and a picture is worth 1,000 words.”

He said the camera can record in low-light situations, produce high-resolution images and have large field of focus “more than you would expect,” Gallow said.

That means officers may also use them to collect evidence at a crime scene. He said that often an officer on patrol is focused on arresting a suspect and may miss important evidence. “This will allow us to see everything at the crime scene,” Gallow said.

He called the cameras “very durable. The uniform will be damaged quicker than the camera in a scuffle.”

The police chief noted another benefit. Lawsuits charging police brutality are common here and throughout the nation.

“Most of those are frivolous, but they are still expensive to defend,” said Gallow, who predicted that having footage from every arrest should limit such lawsuits in the future.

He said the images captured by the cameras will automatically be downloaded at the end of each shift. The images will then be stored online at EVIDENCE.com for a year or longer.

That is another cost but Gallow said it should eliminate any concern that police are only using evidence that supports their version of events.

Gallow said patrol officers should have the new body cameras on the street within about a week.

“We have in-service training going on as we speak,” Gallow said Thursday.