LAPD upgrades vehicles with new in-car camera system for better transparency during traffic stops

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Police Department is upgrading its patrol vehicles with new cameras and new technology designed to better capture what happens during routine traffic stops.

The department unveiled its new Axon's Fleet 3, a fully integrated in-car video system.

"It allows more information to come to the car," explained LAPD Chief Michel Moore.

The department has used digital in-car video for more than a decade but the most notable upgrades include high-definition cameras and instant upload capabilities via the wireless Cradlepoint cloud manager.

"Previously, officers would have to leave their call, drive back to the station, where, in the parking lot, there were access points. With this in-car video system, the Fleet 3, videos can upload instantaneously after it has stopped so as soon as an officer finishes a call, stops the video, through the Cradlepoint router, these videos are now wirelessly uploaded from anywhere, as long as there's an LTE connection," said Ofc. Armand Lemoyne.

When a recording is started, the new in-car system also instantly connects with audio and video on the officer's body-worn camera.

"Instead of officers carrying both a body-worn video and a separate microphone, it's now all integrated into the same capture," said Moore.

The goal is for the department to have better transparency and more efficiency. The rollout, which began last October, is almost complete.

"Our entire fleet, when completed, will be 1,500 vehicles," said Lemoyne. "Currently, we're at about 1,100. We're almost done. We should be done by summer and that would be four bureaus and a total of 26 different divisions."