This grant application supports the prescott valley police department (pvpd) body worn camera (BWC) implementation project

The Town of Prescott Valley Police Department (PVPD) will implement a comprehensive Body Worn Camera (BWC) program through a $174,000 project grant award from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance. The grant supports PVPD's BWC Implementation Project to purchase 87 cameras for all sworn officers and animal control officers, along with robust software for proper storage, redaction, release and auditing of footage per policy. The three-year grant period will allow PVPD to immediately review critical incidents and complaints to ensure transparency and accountability, carefully manage the program through proper policy, staffing and monitoring, and measure impacts on use of force, complaints and other metrics. The funding assists PVPD under the Body Worn Camera Policy and Implementation program (CFDA 16.835), which aims to establish or expand BWC programs with plans to maximize benefits through technology and policy implementation.

Pvpd serves the town of prescott valley, a medium sized municipality of 47,500 residents in central arizona. The prescott valley metro was recently ranked 25TH in the nation for growth rate between 2020-2021 (stebbins, 2022). With these funds and additional match funds, we will start our BWC program with 87 BWC issued to all sworn personnel who provide direct service to the community and our animal control officers who also provide direct service to the community. The BWC will be supported by a robust software system that allows for proper impound, storage, redaction, release, and audit of BWC use per policy. Pvpd recognizes how BWC cameras can impact many aspects of our agency including several mentioned in the 21ST century policing report: building trust and legitimacy, policy and oversight, technology, and officer safety (multiple, 2015). BWC will allow US to immediately review critical incidents and complaints to ensure transparency and accountability, implement policy to carefully manage the program and provide for oversight of the project through proper staffing and monitoring, use a technology relatively new to law enforcement, and reduce officer assaults and uses of force. Pvpd has a data driven approach to measuring performance and service demands, evidenced by the focus we place on monthly reporting on officer activity, community service needs, and outcomes in the form of crime and crash rates. This proven ability will enable US to implement a BWC program that includes multiple data measurements to examine BWC impacts: use of force, complaints, citation rate, arrest rate, plea bargaining, camera use per policy, and rate of impound of BWC footage.