Police in Illinois town now using body cameras

RANTOUL, Ill. — Police in central Illinois’ Rantoul are joining the growing number of law enforcers using body cameras — a technology that’s been gaining traction since the recent shooting death of a black 18-year-old by a suburban St. Louis officer who was not wearing one.

Rantoul’s police department got a large, anonymous donation in 2011 for the research and purchase of the cameras, the (Champaign) News-Gazette reported Saturday.

That was well before the renewed push for such cameras began to surge this August, when white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. That case touched off at times violent protests in Ferguson, and demonstrations across the country turned up again in recent days after a local grand jury declined to indict Wilson.

Brown’s family has pressed for U.S. police departments to make body cameras required equipment.

In 13,000-resident Rantoul, the cameras for roughly two dozen officers can be clipped to the collar of the shirt or to sunglasses. A specific list of incidents may be recorded, including traffic stops, any types of detentions or stops, responses to priority calls, investigations of suspicious persons or vehicles and vehicle pursuits.

Rantoul police Lt. Jeff Wooten said the cameras, consisting of a digital video recorder and a battery pack that allows for 10 hours of recording time, would be used to phase out dashboard cameras in the village’s police cars.

Wooten said that due to citizen concerns about a right to privacy, all officers will notify the person or persons of the recording before they engage.