Columbia Police Department report says technology is helping, but more is needed

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Police Department says surveillance technology is helping it to better police the city.

CPD's 2024 annual surveillance report says technology such as surveillance cameras, license plate readers, data analytics, radios and mobile devices has significantly enhanced the department's capabilities in identifying suspects.

However, the department is looking to improve its technology as it has become outdated.

The department is working to get newer technology under its Axon Technology system it currently uses.

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude said an all around upgrade would allow officers to improve efficiency and better store evidence along with body-worn cameras, dash cameras and other tools to automatically turn on when an officer pulls a weapon.

"There is human error when everything we do and officers are presented with such dynamic situations, we don't want them having to think about hitting their camera," Schlude said. "We want them to think about their safety and the safety of who they are trying to protect."

Currently, CPD using physical copies such as a flash drive to store evidence, but an upgrade would save officers time and allow them to put the best case together for a victim.

Backing it up and having it in a cloud-based system is must safer and more redundant everything in one place virtually in place so we can access it its there when we need it and when its time to get rid of it we know where to find it," Schlude said.

Officers within the department have been using body-worn cameras for 11 years and video storage has reached its limit, according to CPD.

Expanding storage would align with the Citizens Police Review Board's recommendation for longer retention periods of crucial evidence for one year. That is the same time period a person has to file a complaint under city ordinance.

"It's expensive to retain all of this data, if someone after 11 months decided to file a complaint all of that is safe," CPRB Chief Doug Hunt said

According to CPD the upgrades would cover more than $3 million in five years, and the first year would be paid by forfeiture funds and the rest would be by general funds if it is approved by the Columbia City Council.

The council will have its first read on the improvements this month and then a public hearing will be held in April where the council will vote on it.

"It gives officers the ability to do their job for efficiently, and with more assurance with the public, I think it offers more transparency and that's important to me as the police chief and the public and I think also its going to make solving crimes more efficient," Schlude said.

In 2011, CPD spent $73,863.50 to install eight surveillance cameras in Downtown Columbia. Now, only one of those cameras is operational at the intersection of Hitt Street and Broadway. The camera is static and has a limited field of view, according to the city's annual report.

The low resolution makes it difficult for police to identify clothing, license plates or specific actions that cannot be seen in footage in low-light conditions or bad weather conditions.

\The City Council approved installing Flock cameras in October, which reads license plates. Data in the camera is stored for 30 days, according to previous reporting. Other neighboring communities use Flock cameras. Flock claims the cameras do not capture identifiable images of people or faces.

CPD has previously suggested using a camera system in Columbia called Fusus, which the City Council rejected following community pushback at a November 2022 council meeting.

Schlude said work has already begun to install Flock cameras. The department is in the last year of its five-year contract with Axon Technology that had an initial cost of $282,450 in 2021, with an annual licensing/service fee of $24,975 for years two through five.

The department did not receive any body-worn camera complaints in 2024, the report says.