Body Cameras

As reported by NJ.com, troopers at three State Police stations began patrolling with body-worn cameras this weekend as the Division prepares to outfit every officer on the road with the technology. Uniformed troopers assigned to Bordentown, Bellmawr, and Red Lion stations turned on their cameras on Saturday as part of an “initial deployment program,” according to a State Police spokesman.

The rollout of body camera technology at New Jersey’s largest police force comes amid a climate of national scrutiny of police practices. The Division was among the first police forces in the state to use dashboard cameras, in part due to federal oversight for racial profiling. “Attaching the cameras to our troopers will us more information in a variety of locations,” Col. Rick Fuentes, the Superintendent of the State Police, said in a statement. “They will help protect troopers and the public by creating an objective record of our interactions.”

About 200 of the State’s more than 500 police agencies use body cameras in some capacity, according to the State Attorney General’s Office, which has encouraged their use through a series of grants meant to defray their costs and a new directive outlining rules for their use.  But the push has seen criticism both from the unions representing troopers who objected to the Attorney General’s new rules and from civil liberties advocates who say state authorities have curtailed public access to the footage.

New Jersey’s body camera program is paid for through state forfeiture funds. The U.S. Department of Justice also recently announced federal funds for several New Jersey agencies, including the State Police, Newark, Camden, Evesham, and Haledon. The cameras will capture audio and video with a wide-angle lens attached to the front of the trooper’s uniform and will be activated at the start of any interaction with the public, authorities said, including traffic stops, accidents, calls for service and criminal investigations.

State Police officials declined to disclose how many troopers at the three stations are currently outfitted with body cameras, but the DOJ grant indicates they intend to use federal funds to outfit 1,575 uniformed officers. The Division has a total of 2,600 sworn members.

Tags: body cameras, NJ Attorney General, NJ Police, NJ Public Safety Officers, NJ State Police, NJSP
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Photo of Donald C. Barbati Donald C. Barbati

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues…

Donald C. Barbati is a shareholder of Crivelli, Barbati & DeRose, L.L.C. His primary practice revolves around the representation of numerous public employee labor unions in various capacities to include contract negotiation, unfair labor practice litigation, contract grievance arbitration, and other diverse issues litigated before the courts and administrative tribunals throughout the State of New Jersey. In addition, Mr. Barbati also routinely represents individuals in various types of public pension appeals, real estate transactions, and general litigation matters. He is a frequent contributor to the New Jersey Public Safety Officers Law Blog, a free legal publication designed to keep New Jersey public safety officers up-to-date and informed about legal issues pertinent to their profession. During his years of practice, Mr. Barbati has established a reputation for achieving favorable results for his clients in a cost-efficient manner.

Mr. Barbati has also handled numerous novel legal issues while representing New Jersey Public Safety Officers. Most notably, he served as lead counsel for the Appellants in the published case In re Rodriguez, 423 N.J. Super. 440 (App. Div. 2011). In that case, Mr. Barbati successfully argued on behalf of the Appellants, thereby overturning the Attorney General’s denial of counsel to two prison guards in a civil rights suit arising from an inmate assault. In the process, the Court clarified the standard to be utilized by the Attorney General in assessing whether a public employee is entitled to legal representation and mandated that reliance must be placed on up-to-date information.

Prior to becoming a practicing attorney, Mr. Barbati served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Linda R. Feinberg, Assignment Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Mercer Vicinage. During his clerkship Mr. Barbati handled numerous complex and novel substantive and procedural issues arising from complaints in lieu of prerogative writs, orders to show cause, and motion practice. These include appeals from decisions by planning and zoning boards and local government bodies, bidding challenges under the Local Public Contract Law, Open Public Records Act requests, the taking of private property under the eminent domain statute, and election law disputes. In addition, Mr. Barbati, as a certified mediator, mediated many small claims disputes in the Special Civil Part.

Mr. Barbati received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, magna cum laude, from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Upon graduating, Mr. Barbati attended Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware. In 2007, he received his juris doctorate, magna cum laude, graduating in the top five percent of his class. During law school, Mr. Barbati interned for the Honorable Joseph E. Irenas, Senior United States District Court Judge for the District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey, assisting on various constitutional, employment, and Third Circuit Court of Appeals litigation, including numerous civil rights, social security, and immigration cases.

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