Springdale officers seek body cameras, police dog

SPRINGDALE — The Police Department is closer to receiving body cameras for patrol officers and a police dog.

The City Council Committee unanimously recommended that the City Council approve three Police Department requests, during the Monday evening committee meeting.

Police Chief Mike Peters requested $73,696 to match a Department of Justice grant to purchase 98 body cameras, which all of the department’s patrol officers would be equipped with. The $73,696 is half of the total cost for the cameras. The grant would provide the other half, Peters said.

Alderman Mike Overton spoke in support of the cameras.

“It’s going to save us a lot of conflicts down the road,” he said.

Alderman Jeff Watson asked Peters to find out if there’s enough money in the Police Department’s asset forfeiture account to pay for the half that the grant does not cover. Peters said he would look into it.

Overton said the city is committed to matching the grant, but hopes that the asset forfeiture account has enough to pay the matching cost.

Springdale police applied for the grant along with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Fayetteville Police Department.

“[It was] a regional grant, and each agency asked for a specific number of cameras,” Peters said.

The cameras will increase transparency and dissemination of information, Peters said.

Peters’ request to amend his department’s 2017 budget so he can use $10,500 from the asset forfeiture account to purchase a canine also was recommended.

The police dog will replace Xato, one of the department’s three canines, who died last summer, Peters said.

The Springdale Animal Shelter Foundation raised $3,650 and Shiloh Christian School raised $400 toward the purchase of the dog.

“That’s really nice of them to raise the money,” Peters said.

The $4,050 of asset forfeiture money not spent on the dog because of the donations will be moved back into the asset forfeiture account after the dog is purchased, Peters said.

The dog will be purchased from Von Klein Stein Working

Dogs in Little Rock. The cost also includes a two-week canine training session for canine officer Morris Irvin and the chosen canine. The Police Department will choose one of two available canines, one of which is a German shepherd and the other is a Belgian Malinois. The department has only used German shepherds, Peters said.

Police dogs are used for officer protection, drug searches, tracking, article searches and finding missing persons, Peters said.

The committee also unanimously voted to recommend that the council authorize a change in police staff.

Peters requested that his department’s four clerical employees be converted to report specialists. The department has four report specialists, who dictate reports submitted by officers into a device akin to an answering machine, Peters said.

“They also greet the people in the lobby and take minor reports,” he said. “When dispatch gets a call that doesn’t require an officer, dispatch will transfer the call to them and they will take the report.”

The Police Department now uses different forms of technology to fulfill clerical duties, Peters said.

Converting the clerical positions into report specialists will add around $16,000 a year to the city’s payroll expense, Peters said.