Riverhead Police to begin using body and vehicle cameras Sunday

Riverhead Police officers will start using body cameras and vehicle cameras this Sunday, according to town officials.

The cameras were a long-term goal of the town’s 2021 police reform plan and are considered by civil rights organizations like the ACLU and NAACP to be an essential oversight tool for reducing police misconduct and increasing community trust. 

“They are excited to use them as they will be a benefit for all officers during interactions with the public during tense situations,” Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in a text message, “[I’m] glad we have finally implemented them.”

“It protects the officers from inaccurate allegations,” added Hubbard, a retired Riverhead Police detective.

Police Chief Ed Frost said he hopes the cameras will help build a better relationship between the public and police through increased transparency and accountability. Footage from the cameras will allow for a “true, unbiased account” of police interactions in court, he said.

The cameras “will also assist with future training needs of the department, to assess where we need to do better,” Frost added.

The department’s 100 officers will activate their cameras during most calls, Frost said. Officers may turn them off in certain cases, such as at a patient’s request during a medical call, he said.

“I think cameras are a good way for officers to be protected, and those who are not officers to be protected,” said Mark McLaughlin, chairperson of the town’s Anti-Bias Task Force.

“I think everybody would feel some kind of safety knowing that there’s a camera documenting what’s going on, versus he says, she says,” he added.

Last year, Riverhead was awarded a $1.47 million state grant to purchase the body cameras. That grant also covered the cost of installing the car cameras, Frost said. 

On Tuesday, the Riverhead Town Board approved agreements with its two police unions to implement the program. Officers will each receive an additional $2,000 in salary this year, and $500 in both 2026 and 2027, for using the cameras. 

Riverhead’s police reform plan, which recommended the use of body cameras, was adopted in 2021 after then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated that police agencies across the state “perform a comprehensive review” of police practices and policies for the purpose of “addressing community needs and racial bias” and to “foster trust, fairness and legitimacy.” Cuomo’s order came in response to Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

According to the National Institute of Justice, body cameras came into use by U.S. law enforcement agencies in response to the national attention drawn by the shooting of Michael Brown, 18, by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 and the death of Freddie Gray, 25, in Baltimore, Maryland in 2015, from injuries sustained while in police custody. 

Evidence on the effectiveness of body-worn cameras in achieving law enforcement goals — such as improving officer safety, increasing evidence quality, reducing civilian complaints, and lowering agency liability — is mixed, according to the NIJ. More research is needed, the agency notes.