Lapel cameras to protect police on patrol

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. and a Hampton Township businessman are teaming up for the experimental use of lapel television cameras for beat patrol police officers to prevent ambush attacks.

"My hope is to make the public aware that if you do something to a police officer, your picture is going to be on national TV in a matter of minutes," Zappala said Thursday.

The district attorney will buy one $420 mini-camera setup and have another one donated by Lee W. Elter II, president of Eltech Co., a security systems specialist.

With the cooperation of Mike Vogel, chief of investigative services with the Allegheny County Housing Authority, the tiny cameras will be used for a trial period by patrolling officers in housing projects, possibly targeting those in Duquesne, McKees Rocks or Stowe Township.

He said the cameras likely will be used on a voluntary basis by two officers working together from the housing authority or municipal police departments that patrol the housing complexes.

"We have a lot of police officers assigned to the Allegheny County housing sites to provide additional protection to the residents. They're putting their lives on the line on a daily basis. It's time that they are protected for a change," Vogel said.

After the execution-style slaying of Aliquippa police officer James Naim, 32, in a Beaver County housing complex in March 2001, Vogel and Zappala discussed the use of the cameras as a means of preventing the death of another police officer.

Vogel said he believes the cameras will become a deterrent when it is known that officers are recording what goes on around them.

Vogel had advised Beaver County Housing Authority on the establishment of a police substation at the Linmar Terrace housing complex where Naim was killed, and testified at the trial of his accused killers about the security procedures used. One defendant was convicted of third-degree murder and another acquitted in Naim's slaying.

Even though testimony established that Naim was shot in the back of the head, Vogel said the use of the camera could have caught the faces of "everyone who may have been there" as the officer took cover from the assault.

Elter said the cameras will send a picture back 1,000 feet along a line of sight outdoors or 450 feet indoors, to a receiver in a patrol car, a substation or headquarters where it is recorded.

The system was demonstrated yesterday at the Allegheny County Courthouse with Deputy Sheriff Ronald Stokes, who wore the camera pinned to his shirt, transmitting a picture to a remote monitor as he walked down a third-floor hallway.

Zappala, who plans to use money forfeited in drug cases to purchase one camera system, said he'll propose to the Allegheny County Chiefs of Police Association that they work together in seeking a grant to purchase more units if they become used on a large-scale basis.

The district attorney said the cameras could play an important role in cases of domestic violence where police officers are frequently placed at risk of death or injury.

Zappala said filming and recording a victim's "excited utterance" in a domestic violence case would prevent the need to have the complaint repeated, thus taking the focus off the victim in a volatile situation.

The district attorney also said police departments that have videotaping equipment in cruisers to record traffic stops have "almost eliminated civil rights claims" against officers.

Elter said three departments, which he wouldn't identify, already are using the lapel cameras in narcotics and other investigations.

Zappala and Elter worked together to provide surveillance cameras at The Waterfront in Homestead to combat car thefts and other crimes.

For police concerned about the radiation from the transmissions of the lapel cameras, Elter said they are safer than using a cellular phone.The units are powered by a 9-volt battery that lasts eight hours.

He said "it's about time the police have access to the type of technology that drug dealers can afford."

Robert Baird can be reached at (412) 391-8650.

Todd Williams, a technician at Eltech Security Systems in Allison Park, demonstrates a remote wireless camera. Williams recorded the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review photographer during a photo session. Officers will be able to attach the camera to their uniforms using strips of velcro. Warren L. Leeder/Tribune-Review

This remote wireless camera, measuring 2 inches long and 11/4 inch wide, would give local police officers the ability to record events while on duty. The lens of the camera is the tiny red dot near the top. Warren L. Leeder/Tribune-Review