A captain with the Jamestown Police Department said the use of body cameras by an investigator and his supervisor “is not appropriate for all police investigations.”

The comments come in response to a recent proposal for department-wide use of body cameras by a member of the Jamestown City Council.

Capt. Robert Samuelson told The Post-Journal that body camera use in policing is not universal and isn’t appropriate for all investigative purposes.

“We often deal with informants, witnesses, victims and others who would be very reluctant to come forward if they knew that they were being recorded. I think that as an agency we have been very transparent to the public on just about everything we do. However, as mentioned, all issues are not for public consumption and should not be recorded to protect certain victims and informants,” he stated in an email that was sent to The Post-Journal, interim chief Lt. Tim Jackson and Anthony Dolce, Jamestown City Council president. “I am sure that you would agree that recording a child victim or victim of sexual assault in their homes would not be appropriate. There are also tactical concerns that would also be of issue and could jeopardize officers and the community’s safety. We often conduct interviews of informants and witnesses on knowledge of dangerous weapons and layouts of locations that are then used for tactical and informational purposes for investigations.”

Samuelson said the department already has body cameras available for investigators and they can use one as needed. He also said the department, since 2008, records all felony and major case interviews of suspects at the Jamestown Police Department.

“We were the first agency to do recordings of our interviews in this area,” he said. “We have obtained dozens of recorded confessions from suspects of major crimes that we have then in turn used for prosecution.”

Samuelson said when investigators respond to scenes, patrol officers will more than likely be there and will have their cameras in use. He said body cameras are a very useful tool in policing in today’s world. He added they are excellent in showing proper procedure and can assist supervisors in maintaining accountability with their officers.

“The footage provided by these cameras has been very helpful in determining evidence sometimes weeks or months after an incident that may have been missed at the original scene,” he said. “The cameras also have assisted in showing that proper procedures were followed, and can and have been used at trial for use by the prosecution. As an administrator of our department, with 27 years of experience and the last 12 years as a captain in criminal investigations, I am in complete agreement that body cams are very useful in police work and certainly aid us more often than they hurt us.”

During the Jamestown City Council work session meeting July 13, retired former Jamestown Police Department officer Jeff Russell, At-Large councilman, announced he believes that all detectives and their supervisors, which would include a captain and a lieutenant, should wear body cameras when interacting with the public. He said only uniform officers are currently mandated to wear body cameras even though detectives and their supervisors also interact with civilians. He added when detectives are “out in the field” they are doing interviews sometimes at someone’s house and it would be important to have body camera footage in case something happened or an allegation was made against the police officer. Russell said body cameras protect civilians and the officers themselves because it’s additional evidence that could refute a false claim.

Jackson said there are about 10 non-uniform officers. He said that the department has spare body cameras, but he didn’t know if there were 10 additional cameras.

Jackson said officers are instructed to turn on their body cameras whenever they are in contact with the public. He said whenever an officer doesn’t use their camera after being in contact with a civilian they have to file a report detailing why they didn’t turn the device on. He added that he could amend the department’s body camera policy to include detectives and supervisors. Jackson also said he will have to look at the details of the Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association contract with the city to see if enforcing detectives and their supervisors to wear body cameras is allowed.