<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Earlier this year, the Sitka Police Department received 16 body cameras — a donation large enough for a fully-staffed police department — that originally came from Nome and then to Craig and finally to Sitka. (KCAW/McKenney)</figcaption></figure>

The Sitka Police Department has body cameras to equip its officers in its possession, but doesn’t yet have the funding to implement them. 

The city has been considering the issue since 2022, and after a donation they received this summer, funding the program is again a priority. 

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Sitka is the fifth largest city in the state, but its police officers still don’t use body cameras. Body cameras are used by officers in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau, as well as in smaller communities in Southeast Alaska like Wrangell, Haines, Petersburg and Ketchikan.

Sitka’s Interim Police Chief Chad Goeden said the biggest barrier to implementing them in Sitka is the city’s budget cycle, which runs through June 30. When he started on July 1, the budget was already set. 

“Our biggest issue is the day I took over the job is the day I inherited the budget that was created before I got here,” Goeden said. “And I can’t change that.”

Sixty-two percent of local police departments nationwide used body cameras in 2020, a 43% increase from 2016, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice. 

The Sitka Assembly was set to consider the use of body cameras in early 2022, but ultimately, the issue never made it to the assembly table.  

“We did a little investigating. And at the time, we ended up not pushing for it,” said assembly member Kevin Mosher, who co-sponsored the discussion item with then-assembly member Rebecca Himschoot.

He said at the time, it was more about logistics than the cost of the cameras. Storing the data, preparing for public records requests, and redacting for privacy would likely require another position in an already strapped police department. 

“That extra work of trying to store it and prepare public records requests and stuff on a regular basis would not be able to be done by regular patrol officers,” Mosher said.

Goeden agreed. He said even now, the department still doesn’t have enough staff.  

“Our biggest problem as a police department right now is we are just too short handed,” Goeden said. “Not just at the officer level, but I’m supposed to have two lieutenants, I have one. I’m supposed to have four sergeants, I have one. I have one administrative assistant, and she’s spending most of her time in dispatch because we’re so short of dispatchers. So we just don’t have the administrative staff to do this.”

To be clear, Goeden said, he’s in favor of police body cameras. But he also sees the additional hurdles that come with them, not just in the form of cost, but in the form of administration.

“If it’s approved, we’ll do it, and we’ll find a way,” he said. “But then we have to stop doing something else. There’s only so many hours in the day, and it’s largely the administration that concerns me right now. In principle, I’m 100% in support.”

In July, the Sitka Police Department received 16 body cameras — a donation large enough for a fully-staffed police department — that originally came from Nome and then to Craig and finally to Sitka. So actually acquiring the cameras isn’t the issue right now. 

But, Goeden said, they still need to come up with the money to pay for the service, licenses and warrantees.  

“It’s not the physical hardware that’s the issue,” he said. “It’s the licensing of them and then turning them on so that we can use them.”

The camera manufacturer, Axon, estimates the cost to the city will be between $30,000 and $50,000 per year for the licensing and software, depending on what services they choose, according to Goeden.

Goeden said his officers already use dash cameras in their patrol vehicles, so all of their traffic stops and interactions that happen in the vehicles are recorded. Officers also capture audio recordings. And although video would be better, he said, “it’s not like this is going to totally change the way we’re doing law enforcement in Sitka.”

“I can tell you that in my 25 years in law enforcement experience, I never had a body camera, and it was never an issue,” Goeden said. “I’m not saying that they’re not good. They’re useful tools. But I don’t think it’s going to be the game changer that a lot of people think it is.”

Mosher said city staff are considering adding body camera funding to the budget this year, which would require assembly approval, and he’s on board.  

“I’m strongly in support of it. I think most assembly members will be,” he said. “I believe it’s something that the community would like. I think it will definitely help bring transparency, help with people who have interactions with officers, and I think it will actually protect the police officers in a great way.”

Goeden said the police department plans to apply for a federal grant through the Bureau of Justice Assistance that could pay for up to 50% of the body camera cost.