Norwalk Police Department will be getting body cameras

NORWALK — Mayor Dave Light said the Norwalk Police Department will be getting body cameras. He said the police department looked into getting body cameras a few years ago but the police were unable to get them due to an issue of storing the media from the cameras. "(Back then) you needed the ability to store everything in your hard drive in the computer. But now they've improved it," Light said. "They've come to the point where if you're wearing a body camera and you get out of your cruiser and you're walking into the building, it automatically downloads right off your camera, so you don't have to plug it in somewhere and download it." Police chief Mike Conney has assigned three officers to research three body camera companies to find which is best. Light said officers will also be asking other law enforcement agencies with body cameras what they prefer. "I'm confident we're going to have some body cameras, if not this year, first thing next year," Light said. "It's a lot more efficient than it used to be." Light said when police reform policies came out in 2015, Norwalk's policies were more strict than the state's. "The state of Ohio only requires (a police officer) to fire your handgun one time a year. Firearms training, just like use of force training, is what they call a perishable skill. From the minute you walk off the shooting range, your skills begin to diminish," Light said. "It's 25 bullets once a year to keep your peace officer certification. Norwalk does a minimum of twice a year and a lot more rounds than that 25 round course." Light said the department will also train once a year on mats to refresh officer training when using force. "It's all about self-defense and it's all about the do's and don'ts and where you can hit people where you can't with hands-on baton trading," the former police chief said. "There's preferred striking areas which are the back of the legs, back to the arms. You never hit somebody in the head with a baton." Light said chokeholds have been banned for years, even when he arrived at the station in 1983. He said the department's dispatchers have "every certification and training they could possibly have." Light said the Norwalk police have policies in place for use of force, hiring, bias-free policing and employee misconduct. He said all of their current policies are being sent to the state for approval. "We call it use of compliance, instead of use of force, but our use of compliance policy is a model for other agencies to use," he said. Light said he believes Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs should be a mandatory part of police training. CIT helps train officers to respond to mental health crises and provides knowledge about mental illness. "One of the benefits of living in Norwalk, you get a call to certain people's houses, we know who the person is and their history," he said. "You're more familiar with the people." Light said the police department works with the Huron County Board of Mental Health and Addiction Services to help provide those in need with the resources and people they need. "A lot of people from the outlying areas will move to Norwalk so they can have access to Fisher-Titus, their local recovery center, without having to travel," Light said. "I would say Norwalk has a fair population of people who need the resources we have."