Why don't Orchard Park Police wear body cams?

Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - Last Friday, Orchard Park Police say they responded to a report about a gun and a knife. When arriving on the scene, police encountered a man with a knife and shot him dead when the accused attacker threatened police and advanced toward them with the knife.

Not much has been released as of Wednesday regarding the incident, except for the names of the two officers involved, Thomas Fowler and Tanner Till.

There is also no body cam footage, as the Orchard Park Police Department is one of few policing agencies in Western New York that do not utilize body camera equipment.

But why?

According to NYS Assemblyman Pat Burke, he assisted in helping secure a $125,000 reimbursement state grant for body cameras a few years ago. Under this grant, the municipality needs to purchase the equipment and then be reimbursed from New York State. Typically, the municipality will inform Burke's office once the grant is fully processed, to which he never received a notification that the equipment is bought.

Why was the grant never utilized?

"I can't speak specifically for what went through Orchard Park's decision making process, but I can tell you that based on what I believe the size of that department is, that amount of money would not necessarily be enough to purchase all of the equipment, the charging banks, as well as the continuing costs for the software program," says Jeff Rinaldo, former Buffalo Police Captain and current VP of Operations for Vista Security Group.

"There are a lot of grant programs out there. I know when I was at Buffalo and I headed up our body camera program, we were able to secure some grants that went specifically towards the purchase of the equipment, but it did not become a funding source year after year to pay for the continuing cost for the storage of all of that video. It's one thing to kick off and say, 'Here you go, get running.' It's another thing to say, 'Here's a funding source that you can count on year-after-year to pay for the ever increasing cost for storage of that video.'"

The grant money did come around three years ago for Orchard Park.

"Between election turnover and short staffing, COVID fallout, I think they're still just going through that process," suggested Assemblyman Burke. "That's still public money, and has to have, important and significant oversight, but certainly disappointed to learn that that body cameras hasn't been acquired yet over. You know, three years is pretty lengthy period of time."

The New York State Attorney General's Office is now investigating what ensued in Orchard Park on Friday.

Do police officers want to wear body cams? Rinaldo says yes, most police officers are in favor of wearing them, because it typically works in favor of the officer and provides that transparency to the public.

"If you look at the statistics around not just locally, but around the country, you know the cameras are nine times out of 10 defending and proving that the officer's actions were justified. So as a police officer, it is always great to have a second set of eyes, that transparency level that proves that the actions you took were justified, especially in today's day and age where so many people question the police about whether or not what they did was right and wrong."

A reason why police may not want to wear them?

"A lot of officers kind of feel like there's not enough trust in policing that now we feel that we have to record it and scrutinize every single interaction the police has with citizens, and that is a difficult standard. It also can make officers feel like they're not being respected or they're not being treated with the level of professionalism that they feel that they should."

Assemblyman Burke says his door is always open to the Orchard Park Police.

"I've always articulated to officials in Orchard Park that my office is always open to discussing further grant opportunities to secure more funds for them. So while in some municipalities, I think funding can be an issue. In this case there's already a $125,000 grant that is guaranteed to them, and if they need further funds in the future, I'd certainly be willing to help them."