For Immediate Release: Friday, March 31, 2017
Montgomery Council committee to receive
update on police body camera program
Also on Monday, April 3: Addressing chronic homelessness
ROCKVILLE, Md., March 31, 2017—The Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, April 3, will meet with members of the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) to review the progress of the program that equips officers with body cameras.
The Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Marc Elrich and includes Councilmembers Tom Hucker and Sidney Katz, will meet in the Third Floor Conference Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM). The channel can be viewed on Cable Channels 996 (high definition) and 6 (standard definition) on Comcast; Channels 1056 (HD) and 6 (SD) on RCN; and Channel 30 on Verizon.
The session also will be available live via streaming through the Council web site at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8 .
County police originally conducted a pilot project with body cameras in the summer of 2015, deploying 85 officers with chest-mounted cameras. Using feedback from participating officers, as well as and experience data from that program, MCPD expanded the program to include approximately 950 officers.
The department has made approximately 323,653 recordings with body worn cameras. This translates to 63 terabytes of data, and data accumulation is currently increasing at a rate of four terabytes per month. The department averages 1,350 recordings per day.
County Executive Ike Leggett’s proposed Fiscal Year 2018 operating budget includes funding ($81,960) for an information technology specialist, who would function as a quality assurance position. This position would help maintain program compliance and accountability.
Police Chief Tom Manger is among those expected at Monday’s worksession. Among the issues scheduled to be addressed include how much staff time is required to process MPIA requests and subpoenas. The committee also wants to know if the department has received any complaints about the use of body cameras from the public.
Other aspects of the program the committee will discuss includes the need for officers to review camera footage before writing reports and testifying in court. The committee wants to know how much time that generally adds to an officer's duties and what are the potential impacts for additional overtime or the need for increased staffing.
At 10:30 a.m. in the Third Floor Conference Room, the Health and Human Services Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember George Leventhal and includes Councilmembers Roger Berliner and Craig Rice, and the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, which is chaired by Councilmember Nancy Floreen and includes Councilmembers Leventhal and Hans Riemer, will meet jointly on the County’s efforts to end chronic homelessness.
The County has previously given a special focus to housing the most medically vulnerable (the “100,000 Homes” campaign) and homeless veterans (“Zero 2016”). At Monday’s worksession, the Interagency Commission on Homelessness (ICH) will provide data and strategies to reach "functional zero" for chronically homeless individuals.
The definition of chronic homelessness includes having a disability and living on the streets, in a Safe Haven, or shelter, and being homeless for at least 12 months continuously.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s standards would mean that Montgomery County should have no more than three unhoused chronically homeless individuals or families at any time. Monday’s worksession will provide background information for the joint committee's budget review of the County’s “Housing First” program and its Housing Initiative Fund. That review is scheduled for April 20.
As of Dec. 31, 2016, there were 160 confirmed chronically homeless individuals in Montgomery County and another 114 who may be once their specific situation and condition is verified. The approximately high-end estimate of those who need housing is about 274.
The Dec. 31 count indicated that there were no chronically homeless families with children. The County makes every effort to see that families with children are not on the street. While there are families that are homeless, they are not chronically homeless.
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Release ID: 17-111