The Knox City Police Department recently received new cameras and thermal imagers for the squad cars. Three cameras were received and two have been installed. The third camera will be installed in the last squad car in the near future.
“The cameras are activated on traffic stops,” explained Knox City Chief, Clint Norem. “We have ours hooked into the light system so once an officer activates his overhead lights, the camera system will start recording. The interesting feature with this system is it actually records between 30 and 60 seconds prior to the lights being activated. You may be able to catch the actual incident that occurred that led up to the traffic stop. In accident situations, there is a setting the camera that should the vehicle be involved in an accident, it will actually record 60 seconds prior to the accident. It’s a great benefit for not only the officers, but also the public.”
“The thermal imager allows the officer to see in the darkness,” continued Norem. “It runs through our computers on board in the car. If we were looking for a missing person or a suspect in a crime, we can actually see them very similarly to what we would be able to see during the daytime. The individual would be a lighter color so we can actually see the outline. It also gives the officers a larger amount of distance that they can see in low-light situations.”
