Village Seeks Community Input and Pauses Camera Purchases

By Donna Coallier, South Orange Village Trustee and CPC Liaison

South Orange elected officials are working with the South Orange Police Department (SOPD), Village administrative team, and the South Orange Community Policy Collaborative (CPC) to review SOPD policy on how the Village Digital Video System (DVS) is used in police operations. To give us time to share further information regarding our DVS practices and explore additional constituent input, we have paused DVS equipment purchases. 

We welcome and encourage your input to help us in our review – please take some time to review the SOPD DVS FAQ page, and, plan to join our Village-wide discussion on this topic at 7p on July 21. There, you will learn more about how and why we use the Digital Video System and some of the benefits, risks and trade-offs associated with their use. We’ll also use breakout sessions to gather your feedback on three topics: 1) any additional questions you’d like to see covered on our FAQ page; 2) your views and concerns, if any, on how we deploy the Village DVS; and 3) your Village DVS policy suggestions. 

If you are unable to attend the live session, or simply want to get a head start on providing feedback, please visit the FAQ page and submit your input using the links below when you have free time to do so.

Thank you very much for your time and interest in this important topic. Once we collect your submissions, we will sort them and share a summary of your input, which we will consider as we move forward in the Board of Trustee DVS policy review process. 

Village calendar entry – access the WebEx meeting link here: https://www.southorange.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=3800&month=7&year=2021&day=16&calType=0  

FAQ page link: https://www.southorange.org/838/Digital-Video-System

Constituent feedback form link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSec8QBMJFxGc8VTFEZR34xDzgtRm89oJkVtTOkF0iordTYqrg/viewform?usp=sf_link