Three Watauga motorcycle officers are now equipped with clip-on video cameras to record traffic stops. For years, officers in cars have had dash-mounted cameras to record stops, but until recently, officers on motorcycles did not.
In Texas, 45 to 50 law enforcement agencies use the cameras, according to Heidi Traverso, a spokeswoman for Vievu, the Seattle company that designs and manufactures the cameras.
The city paid $800.00 for each of the cameras plus $500.00 more for additional hard drives to store the recordings.
The cameras are an important tool for showing driver or officer misconduct. The footage they record is often brought in as evidence at trial. On a DWI case a few months ago, my office was able to get a copy of the footage from the arresting officer which showed that the defendant was hardly able to walk when he crashed into my client. After showing the insurance company the footage and threatening a lawsuit, their offer increased 10-fold.