September 28, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • Page 9 Ho-Ho-Kus Patrol vehicles get new cameras by Jennifer Crusco All five of the Ho-Ho-Kus Police Department’s patrol vehicles now have up-to-date, in-car digital recording cameras, and the related server and software installations have been completed, according to Ho-Ho-Kus Police Chief John Wanamaker. As of last week, department personnel were learning how to use the new equipment. The new cameras will be automatically initialized when the light on the police car is activated, and the officers will be equipped with microphones that are active while the cameras are in use. The activity will be recorded and the data will be stored on a media card. When the police car is within 500 feet of headquarters, the digital camera will automatically download the information, which will be stored within the department. A manual override system will allow a police officer to activate the camera in cases where the lights on the vehicle are not being used. The recording system, which is made by Panasonic, replaced a system that was approximately 12 years old and made use of VHS tapes, which have become difficult to find as new products have supplanted the older technology. The new system cost $40,272 and was supplied by WPCS International Inc. of Lakewood. The borough council awarded the contract in June after obtaining three bids. Chief Wanamaker previously stated that video records have helped the department in instances when complaints are issued. He detailed one case in which a motorist who had been stopped in Ho-Ho-Kus claimed she had been detained for 20 minutes and had been intimidated by the presence of four to five police cars at the scene. The video recording of the incident indicated that the motor vehicle stop had lasted six minutes, and two police cars had been present. Wanamaker also said that in-car cameras help protect the officers on duty, and are useful for driving while intoxicated stops because the details of the motor vehicle stops can be burned to a DVD and used by the prosecution when the cases come to court.