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While the issue may seem simple, it is not always.  The use of body cameras is inherent with concerns, including how and when the video footage can be used. For example, should the video footage be made public? If so…when?

SACS Consulting is fully aware of the pros and cons of body cameras. Please give us a call today at 330-255-1101 to learn more about ways SACS Consulting can help your police department establish proper policies regarding body cameras.

Businesses and municipal services— including fire departments, emergency medical technicians, private security firms, department stores, and construction crews — have turned increasingly to body-worn devices from a plethora of manufacturers to monitor employees for training, safety, and behavioral purposes.

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Although it may seem like the positive effects of having the police wear body cameras outweighs any adverse effects, there is another side. The cameras need to be on, and the video needs to be stored appropriately for the footage to be useful.

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When the W14-1 or W14-2 sign is used, the sign shall be posted as near as practical to the entry point or at a sufficient advance distance to permit the road user to avoid the dead end or no outlet condition by turning at the nearest intersecting street.

There are high costs associated with storing the video footage recorded by the cameras, which can be about $15 to $99 per officer per month.

Good engineering practice (and a MAY statement in the NYS Supplement) dictates that additional dead end signs can be put up before the end of the road to alert drivers on longer highways. Therefore, the same two locations are still in play for the locations of Dead End Signs.

Additional benefits of the use of body cameras include better evidence collection, enhanced officer accountability, more accurate documentation of the events, improved communication between the police and the public, and the ability to use the videos as training tools for improving police performance.

Video documentation can provide the answer.  Requiring officers to wear cameras allows for greater transparency on the job.

Another consideration is whether the police would modify their actions or whether their performance would be hindered because they know they are being recorded. Does having everything recorded cause them to act differently? And what effect do the recordings have on how the community perceives the police, for the better or worse?

The requirement that a Dead End sign be located within 100' of the end of the road had been in the text of GML 125-a, but this requirement was removed when that section of law was revised in 1992.

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Lastly, they may not be needed. Bystander video, not body camera footage, brought widespread attention to George Floyd’s death and eventually resulted in protests across the country. A cell phone captured New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo holding Eric Garner in a chokehold.

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If you have a Dead End sign at or near the end of the road, don't remove it unless you do an engineering study showing why the sign is not needed. If you have a DEAD END sign beyond the end of a road, it should be removed and replaced with a red Type 4 Object Marker.

One problem with this approach is that the Dead End sign had two different meanings depending on where it was located. No other states were installing a Dead End sign beyond the end of the road, so when New York State adopted the national MUTCD in September 2007, NYSDOT discontinued installing the sign at this location.

Every year there are complaints of police officers allegedly using their power and weapons in ways that may or may not have followed correct police procedures.  There are also cases where the officers’ reports differ from the suspect’s account of what happened.

With the newest release of the National MUTCD and NYS Supplement, Dead End signs are to be posted according to the National MUTCD which places them along the right side of the road. Red Type 4 Object Marker are placed beyond the end of the road to mark the actual end.

.We live in an era of technology that provides access to information at the touch of a button. Our cell phones are equipped with cameras that can document anything we choose. So with all this technology at our fingertips, why aren’t more police personnel required to wear cameras?

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It would seem logical that police, for investigative purposes, would want to wear cameras to document their daily encounters. Perhaps body cameras recording the situation may have helped in cases like Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, or George Floyd.

Dead End sign are required on all dead end roads due to section 125a of the NYS General Municipal Law. To mark the end of the road itself, use a red diamond Object Marker OM-4 (MUTCD Section 2C.66).

Prior to adoption of the national MUTCD in 2007, the NYS MUTCD (and Traffic Sign Handbooks) required Dead End signs to be posted at two locations. The first location was derived from the NYS General Municipal Law and the second from good signage concepts in the MUTCD, whether National or New York State.

One study of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. — one of the most extensive, most rigorous reviews of its kind — found those body cameras had no significant impact on officer use of force, on civilian complaints, on whether a case was prosecuted and other outcomes. Another study of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department found that body cameras reduced the use of force and civilian complaints only modestly.