Saratoga News Sheriff deputies get new round of funding from city council Money to pay for in-car video systems, new radios City will hire new officer By Steve Enders Sheriff deputies who patrol Saratoga from the Westside substation are about to be armed with video cameras, although not so they can film for television dramas. Saratoga's City Council approved a measure at its meeting Dec. 16 that will provide sheriff's deputies with the top-of-the-line equipment. Another portion of the money will provide the city with a new public safety officer who will help with citywide code enforcement and other minor law-enforcement duties. It's all part of this year's round of funding for the Citizen's Option for Public Safety (COPS) program. COPS began with a bill signed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1996 and gives money on a per capita basis to each city in the state to give to local law enforcement. This year, Saratoga expects to receive about $71,000 from the state, which will be given to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department for resources devoted solely to Saratoga. Most of the money is going to buy seven new video camera units that will be placed in patrol cars. The small cameras connect to the front of the cars' rearview mirrors and lead to a tiny monitor inside the patrol cars that allow the officers to see what they're filming. The monitor leads to a recorder locked in the cars' trunks, which can only be opened by supervisors with keys. Officers will also be fitted with wireless microphones to record what deputies and their subjects say.The entire unit is activated whenever a car's emergency lights are flipped on, or when the deputy turns the video unit on manually with a switch attached to the wireless microphone. According to a report given to the city by Sheriff Capt. Bob Wilson, the devices will be used to record what happens between deputies and their subjects. If something turns out to be incriminating and they have it on tape, the tape can be brought into a trial as evidence. On the other hand, the tapes will also be used to record deputies' actions in cases where complaints are filed against them. The videos are also expected to be used in training new officers. "Videotape delivers the whole truth and nothing but the truth," Wilson's report states. "In-car video provides an indisputable account of traffic stops, such as DUI tests and results, verbal consents for vehicle searches ... and establishes 'probable cause' for stops." In addition to the video cameras, the COPS money will provide the city with a new public safety officer. The officer will work out of City Hall, and will assist the city with code enforcement and other community outreach duties. The officer hasn't been selected yet, but city manager Larry Perlin said the city has narrowed the search down to a couple of candidates. "We're just continuing what we started last year with the COPS program," Perlin said. "We decided we wanted an individual to supplement code enforcement and lower-level law enforcement." The city will save about $63,000 by hiring the new officer, who will work directly for the city rather than as a contract employee from the Sheriff's Department. In the past, the city has hired a "sheriff's technician" from the county to perform similar duties. All the spending leaves about $13,000, which will go to refurbishing the city's two code-enforcement vehicles with digital radios, so code enforcement officials can be in better contact with sheriff deputies while in the field. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 6, 1999. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.