The South Portland Police Department has received a federal grant that will be used to buy new video recorders for the department’s marked cruisers.
At present, the department uses VHS recorders. The $17,700 grant from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance will be used to switch a digital recording system that will record data on a hard drive.
“It will enhance our ability to store and retrieve data,” said Chief Edward Googins. “The quality also will be much better.”
The department has not received the money yet, but it is expected in the near future. Googins expects that the equipment will be installed sometime in the spring.
As far as he knows, no other department in the state is using digital recording devices in their cruisers.
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