The Auxvasse Police Department will soon be adding another tool to its arsenal - one to help with accountability.
Assistant Police Chief Charles Anderson told the Board of Alderman during its Tuesday night meeting that "with all the issues in Ferguson and discussions about body cameras," he and Police Chief Kevin Suedmeyer decided to purchase a new camera manufactured by Taser for Anderson to test. Suedmeyer also is pursuing a grant to pay for more cameras for the rest of the department.
Anderson said the camera records audio and video, runs for 12 hours and records on a continuous loop. There is a flash drive attached, so if an officer records something that needs to be saved it can be plugged into a USB port and transferred to a computer.
"The main reason we're moving in this direction is because it does reduce our liability," Anderson said. "This will let us be able to record every contact we have with a citizen. It's for our protection, their protection, the city's protection."
Anderson also reported that Suedmeyer and another officer are working on the department's evidence storage system.
"It will make things a lot easier, more secure, the chain of custody will be much better," he said.
In other business, the board designated every other Tuesday in October and November - the nights the board is not regularly scheduled to meet - for budget meetings.
"There's going to be a lot of stuff we need to work on (this year)," City Clerk Missy Hooks said when she made the request to schedule the budget work sessions.
Also during Tuesday night's meeting, Hooks reported that paperwork awarding work on the city's water improvement project to Hutchins Telecom out of Belle, Missouri has been signed.
She said there will be ordinances for the board to vote on at its Sept. 23 meeting for the loan and for the contract with Hutchins.
Hutchins Telecom will have 120 days to complete the project once construction begins.
"I'm so excited. I can't wait for citizens to finally see (the work get done) after years of working on it," Alderwoman Stephanie Leverett said.
Katherine Cummins can be reached at (573) 826-2418 or [email protected].