City Council approves purchase of new evidence recording equipment

EDWARDSVILLE - City Council approved an agreement with Nelson Systems Incorporated for the purchase and installation of Liberty Interview Room Recording System for the new Public Safety Building during Tuesday night’s meeting at Edwardsville City Hall.

Chief Jay Keeven said that new facility will be built with five interview rooms equipped for recording.

“Under Illinois statute, certain interviews, if they are related to homicide, whether that’s first degree or second degree, manslaughter, sexual assault interviews, they must be recorded and the recording persevered for evidence,” Keeven said. "I don't see the trend going away from that."

The $22,391 systems would be similar to that used on video cameras equipped on police vehicles, with evidence being recorded and stored on a server.

“We will be able to use that video for our training purposes,” Keeven said. “We’ll be able to view that video in real time on any desktop within the building where the user has access."

Funding for the purchase will be a part of the budget for the Public Safety Building.

"We knew we would need quite a bit of the technology," Keeven added. "We currently use just a regular dvd player and recorder. This is a much superior system.”

Council also approved the $10,882 purchase and installation of an audio recording system from Nelson that would partner with the video evidence equipment.

Keeven said not only did Nelson provide the lowest bid for the equipment but the cost of annual maintenance would also be less because of a price break for using both systems.

Alderman S.J. Morrison addressed how neighboring communities currently use the same systems and have found them to be very useful.

“Devin Gray and Lieutenant Mike Fillback did the research and they went to, I believe, Granite City, they went to Alton and talked to other agencies that have used it,” Keeven said. “We’ve been using this audio system and the ease of use is tremendous.”

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