TU Office of Public Safety deploys body-worn camera program
Program to provide transparency, accountability for Towson University Office of Public Safety
By Cody Boteler on July 6, 2021
Towson University’s Office of Public Safety is equipping its uniformed patrol officers with body-worn cameras, making it among the first institutions in the University System of Maryland (USM) to fully do so.
TU began implementing the body-worn camera (BWC) program in phases starting in spring 2021, and the program was fully implemented at the beginning of this month — four years ahead of when Maryland’s law enforcement agencies will be required to do so.
"TU made the choice to implement BWC early, before there was a legal requirement in Maryland to do so,” says Charles Herring, chief of police and director of public safety. “The men and women of TUPD work hard every day to keep the campus community safe and I am proud of the work they have done with my command staff to maintain and improve operational transparency."
Deployment began in April and is continuing as officers and supervisors are trained on their use. Towson University secured a grant through the U.S. Department of Justice in late 2020 to order equipment for a BWC program. Recent legislative changes in Maryland requires all Maryland Law Enforcement agencies to be equipped with a BWC system by July 1, 2025.
All uniformed officers and supervisors, assigned to the Patrol Bureau and to the Community Outreach Unit will be assigned a BWC for use while on duty, Herring says.
Officers and supervisors in staff positions and plainclothes investigators will be assigned a BWC for deployment whenever they work in a uniformed assignment that involves, or is likely to involve, interaction with the community.
TU’s Office of Public Safety includes more than 40 fully sworn and dedicated officers, helping to provide for a campus community routinely ranked as one of the safest in the nation by leading organizations including The National Council for Home Safety and Security. TU is one of only a handful of universities in the nation to carry dual accreditation by both the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies and the Commission on the Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
Training includes familiarization with the equipment and the software used to upload and access the recordings. It will also include scenarios so officers practice properly activating and deactivating the cameras. Officers will activate their BWC any time they are engaging in law enforcement encounters.
“I consider myself fortunate to bring this technology to the department and the TU community,” says Herring. “TU and our officers are committed to the community, and this equipment will increase our operational transparency and accountability.”
Note: This story has been updated from a previous version.