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April 2008
- Manhattan Beach PD has issued PUMA II
Digital Recorders to all Department personnel to record suspect
statements, witness interviews and noteworthy encounters with
members of the public during law enforcement activities. The
department feels that the ability to record official encounter with
the PUMA II Digital Recorders will have a significant impact on
successful criminal prosecutions and can reduce the amount of time
necessary to investigate frivolous personnel complaints. Currently,
the Police Department uses the IN-Car Mobile Video System (MVS) to
record official encounters with the public; however, the recording
capability is limited by distance and virtually no reception once an
officer enters a dwelling.
When researching the various systems
available, it became apparent to the Manhattan Beach Department that
several features would be required in any product chosen. The first
requirement being that the recorder does not allow editing, which
ensures that the recordings cannot be appended should they be needed
as evidence in future court proceedings or for personnel
investigations. It needs to be housed in a rugged case to eliminate
accidental erasures when dropped or impacted. In addition, it
requires a centralized software system for the management and
cataloging of the recordings that are downloaded to provide better
access to the information. Thus download files are automatically
marked with the recorder’s date and time. Each digital recording is
electronically assigned to each officer via an electronic serial
number embedded within the recorded file.
The only product that met all
specifications is the PUMA
The Manhattan Beach Police
Department has been proudly serving their community for over 60
years. The Police Department is headquartered at a NEW,
state-of-the-art Police and Fire Safety Facility, housing the latest
in public safety technology. MBPD employs approximately 65 sworn
and 35 civilian full-time employees, and operates under two
divisions - Administration/Investigations and Field Operations. The
Department is led by Chief of Police Rod Uyeda and is supported by
two Captains and
four Lieutenants. |
