The Village of Bridgeview is equipping its officers with body cameras in compliance with the Illinois SAFE-T Act legal requirements, improving transparency and community trust while providing high-quality evidence for court cases.
Trustee Norma Pinion recently updated the Village Board on the progress of selecting a body camera system. After months of careful review by a committee that included village and police personnel, the Village of Bridgeview selected a system from Midwest Public Safety (Getec). The $258,000 package includes 70 cameras and five years of secure, cloud-based data storage.
Bridgeview Police Chief Ricardo Mancha, who served on the selection committee, explained that “The system helps officers by automatically saving data in the field, reducing paperwork and allowing supervisors to review footage to enhance performance.”
The body cameras will provide an objective record of police interactions, capturing both video and audio. This footage can be invaluable in court cases and investigations, and it also supports ongoing training and professional development for officers.
All full-time, part-time, and auxiliary officers will wear the compact, 12-hour battery life cameras on their vests or jackets. Training on the new equipment and policies has begun, with full implementation coming before the year’s end.