DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Investigators have said furnace issues contributed to the CO poisoning deaths of three children in Troy last week.
We talked about the importance of making sure those appliances are inspected annually — and to have them checked if you’re about to buy a home. 2 NEWS Investigates tagged along to a home inspection and found some dangerous problems.
ENGLEWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) – Ever since video of Sunday’s deadly police shooting In Los Angeles, we’ve been asking questions about body cameras here in the Miami valley.
Sheriff’s offices and police departments across the Miami Valley are looking into purchasing these body cameras for their police officers, but it’s not as easy as you might think.
Cameras have been a helpful tool for law enforcement for years. They’re mounted inside the back seat and set up to record what’s in front of them, but now some departments are taking another step by putting them *on the officers.
“It gives a really wide field of view of whatever their body is faced toward and any type of encounter,” said Sgt. Mike Lang with the Englewood Police Department.
Englewood Police is one of the only departments in the area to have their officers out on the street in body cameras. They’ve been using them for six months and for the first time they are talking about them
“Our units are part camera and part miniature hard drive,” said Sgt. Lang.
Anytime there’s enforcement contact such as an arrest or citation, these cameras are on and recording.
Take a look at this traffic stop caught by one of their body cameras.
The officer noticed a sawed off shotgun in the passenger seat as he got closer to the car. This view helps his supervisors and the court see what really happened.
“The officers want to wear these because it protects them, it protects the integrity of their interactions,” said Sgt. Lang.
Only 5 hours of footage can be stored on the hard drives so the cameras are not recording all the time. That’s one of the decisions Englewood made when deciding whether to even purchase them.
“There are some things we don’t want to record. We acknowledge there are areas that some people have an expectation of privacy where video may not be the best way of documenting what’s taking place,” said Sgt. Lang.
There’s no doubt about it, law enforcement agencies want these cameras. In fact Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly has been waiting for his order of 46 cameras since December.
“Everything is in an effort to protect us from allegations and to protect the citizens we serve from allegations against them,” said Sheriff Kelly.
But now that he’s been waiting so long, he’s thought more about the technology and noticed it comes with a lot of grey areas. So he cancelled his order and will do more research.
“Keeping the data. How long do you keep it? How do you keep it secure? Again, if we keep the data for a year, what if 13 months later we have an accusation,” said Sheriff Kelly.
Their office already uses body cameras in the jail. Every Sergeant is able to turn them on if someone gets out of hand.
“It is our side. We’re not having to say, “just trust me because I am a police officer…because that has been tarnished. Because they don’t believe us. So with this way we can put it out there and they can see everything we do,” said Clark County Sergeant Chad Stalder.
Sheriff Kelly wants to get all his deputies equipped with them but also says money is a big factor.
“The cheapest part of the order is the actual purchase of the camera. The most expensive is going to be the servers and the additional logistics of how we work this out to download,” said Sheriff Gene Kelly.
Englewood agrees it’s a costly purchase.
They bought 8 cameras and spent $18,000.
Besides the cost, the department also had to develop a new policy on what they record, how long they keep the records and how much of it is public.
“It is a public record. Flat out. Our biggest thing is making sure that when we do release this information we are not releasing things that are not releasable,” said Sgt. Lang.
Since these carry a lot of uncharted territory, Englewood Police Department there could be a lot of policy changes in the future.
KETTERING, Ohio (WDTN) — Many people take part in the free fitness Friday classes offered by Kettering Rec, a program that shows what’s working in the Miami Valley.
Videographer Kris Sproles took a closer look at the popularity of the program during Five on 2.
Free fitness Friday means anyone can take part in the exercise classes or use the equipment at the Kettering Rec Center the first Friday of every month.
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