FENWICK ISLAND – The purchase of additional body cameras and mobile video recording (MVR) units will move forward with approval from the town council.
Last Friday, the Fenwick Island Town Council voted 5-0, with Councilman Bill Rymer absent and Councilman Paul Breger abstaining, to purchase additional body cameras and MVRs, or dash cameras, for the Fenwick Island Police Department. Mayor Natalie Magdeburger said the additional equipment will provide support to officers in the field.
“This is a safety issue for our officers,” she said. “Our officers have reported that this is not a want but a need, and they are very concerned about not having them during the summer season.”
Magdeburger told council members this week the police department shared four body cameras among its officers. In addition to the shortage, she said the body camera batteries do not last an entire shift.
“So if they are out on a call, there’s a possibility – and indeed occurrences – in which the batteries no longer work …,” she said. “In order to go forward, they either have to make a stop without a body camera or return to the police department to exchange the camera.”
Magdeburger added that two of the department’s vehicles were equipped with MVR units, which not only sync to the body cameras but provide charging stations for the equipment. She noted, however, that while vehicles could be taken home, body cameras could not.
“Our officers have vehicles that they take home, that’s part of their retention benefit,” she said. “And when taking a vehicle home, they do not have the body cameras because the body cameras have to stay within Fenwick since we only have four. If there is an accident or response to an out-of-jurisdiction matter, our Fenwick officers would not have a body camera to utilize.”
Magdeburger noted officials met with the town’s vendor, WatchGuard, which provided a roughly $60,000 quote for additional body cameras, MVR units, server and supporting technology upgrades and on-site training.
A motion to approve the purchase request passed in a 5-0 vote, with Rymer absent and Breger abstaining.
The council this week also made a favorable recommendation to the Fenwick Island Budget and Finance Committee to include a $4,000 line item for force-on-force simulation training equipment in the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget. Magdeburger said the equipment will provide officers with tactical training in active shooter situations.
“It allows them to set up scenarios where there’s an active shooter with two officers responding, or two active shooters with one officer responding, and how they would do so,” she explained.
Magdeburger noted that while the Town of Ocean View provided free simulation training to area police officers, it did not include active shooter scenarios. The equipment that’s being requested, she said, would supplement that free training.
“It basically allows officers to understand, if someone is shooting at them, how they should respond,” she said.
Magdeburger added that while an active shooter situation in Fenwick may seem unlikely, it had occurred in recent years. In June 2021, two men were apprehended for firing multiple gunshots at a Fenwick Island residence and setting fire to a vehicle.
“This may seem a little bit much for Fenwick, but I will remind everyone that two years ago we actually had an active shooter here,” she said. “And we had an officer respond and did so safely to take care of the situation.”
While Magdeburger initially made a motion to add the $4,000 line item to the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget, Councilman Richard Benn questioned if it would be better suited as a favorable recommendation to the town’s budget and finance committee.
“I mean, this is not an immediate need,” he said.
Magdeburger then altered her motion to be a favorable recommendation to the budget and finance committee. The council voted 6-0, with Rymer absent, to approve the motion.
