MANSFIELD -- Sgt. Patrick Williams said Tuesday he's confident new body cameras now worn by Mansfield patrol officers will show a side of the public many people haven't seen.
"I think what we will find is that people, if our content was digested widely, would be shocked at how people conduct themselves toward police officers and authority figures in general," said Williams, a member of the Mansfield Police Department since 2005.
GALLERY: Mansfield Police Department announces launch of body cameras
Photos from a press conference on Tuesday morning announcing the Mansfield Police Department has begun rolling out usage of body cameras on patrol officers for the first time.
Patrick Williams
Mansfield Police Department Sgt. Patrick Williams speaks with the media on Tuesday while wearing one of the new body-worn cameras.
Mansfield police body cameras
Mansfield Police Department Chief Keith Porch explains in December how officers will recharge and download body-worn cameras when their shifts have ended. (Richland Source file photo)
Williams participated Tuesday morning in a press conference during which Chief Keith Porch announced the MPD went "live" with a phased-in usage of police body cameras on Monday.
Williams said citizens who participate in "ride-alongs" with police have their eyes opened.
"They usually leave very surprised with how people behave because they themselves would never treat an officer that way who arrived to quell a disturbance or provide some assistance," Williams said.
"For me as a patrol officer, I know that how I'm conducting myself and how others are conducting themselves will all be captured when it comes to justifying (police action)."
Porch said the plan is have all officers undergo the two-hour training by the end of December.
"As officers are trained, they will begin use the body cameras," the chief said. "Obviously, we cannot train every officer at once."
The training will include instruction on the department's new six-page policy on usage of the body-worn and in-car cameras, which will be linked/synced upon activation, according to the chief.
A $50,000 grant in February from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services allowed MPD to purchase 16 body cameras, charging stations, servers and related equipment.
The department will be able to add another 24 body cameras in 2022 thanks to another $43,560 state grant announced in November.
Police officers will receive the cameras, mounted in the center of their chest, at the beginning of each shift.
When they return the cameras to a re-charging kiosk at the end of their shift, any incidents recorded on the cameras will automatically download to a server, according to Porch.
Those recordings will remain on the server for a minimum of 30 days, for such routine issues like a traffic stop. More serious incidents will be maintained for a longer period of time, the chief said.
Porch was even more confident than Williams the system will be a boon to police officers.
"I'll go further to say that I'm confident that 99 percent of what the body cameras are going to highlight is the fantastic work that patrol officers do on a day-in and day-out basis and what they're faced with in some extraordinary circumstances at times," the chief said.
"(Body cameras) are going to highlight to the public how professional this police department is, and that we do the right things in horrible times."
The chief said the body camera project is just starting. Ideally, he said, every officer would be assigned his/her own camera just as they are a gun and a taser.
"This is by no means ideally where we should be ... but we need to start moving forward in some way," the chief said.