Body-worn camera footage supported the actions of Hampstead, New Hampshire, police officers to use deadly force, and their accounts, in a March 2024 officer-involved shooting as justified when the state’s attorney general issued its final report on the incident Thursday.
That wasn’t the case for former North Andover police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons who was shot in her home by a colleague serving a restraining order.
Fitzsimmons went to trial for assault by means of a dangerous weapon in what became a “he said, she said” of the shooting and where her gun was pointed at without video evidence since North Andover police don’t wear body cameras.
Fitzsimmons was found not guilty during a bench trial in which the superior court judge noted how state prosecutors may have been able to meet their burden of proof if North Andover police wore body cameras.
Across Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire police departments, body-worn camera programs are spotty. Each department has their own reasons for why they use them, or don’t, or why they are able to implement the cameras.
North Andover
In North Andover, the chief didn’t comment on whether one of his officers shooting Fitzsimmons’ last June and the event’s aftermath had anything to do with pursuing body cameras in the future for the department.
However, Town Manager Melissa Rodrigues and Chief Charles Gray said in a joint, prepared statement that initiating a program is one of the Select Board’s stated goals for fiscal 2027.
“The North Andover Police Department administration is working actively with the town to implement a body-worn camera program,” the statement read.
“The town will actively seek grant funding to help offset the direct taxpayer expense,” it continued. “We are keenly aware that body cameras will showcase the high degree of skill and challenging work done each day by the men and women of the Police Department.”
Haverhill
Haverhill Police Department plans to roll out body cameras this summer, a year after a July incident in which Haverhill resident Francis Gigliotti died after an encounter with city police.
The city and the Haverhill Police Patrolmen’s Association agreed to a new contract in December, which included the addition of body-worn cameras for patrol officers.
Mayor Melinda Barrett pushed for a program in the aftermath of Gigliotti’s death, saying the city needed to reflect on how it responds to crises. The public and Gigliott’s family held multiple protests demanding the city’s officers be equipped with the tool.
““We are currently in the process of implementing them and hope to be fully operational by an August-September timeline,” Haverhill Deputy Police Chief Meaghan Pare said.
Hampstead
Hampstead Police Department is one of the local departments that has implemented body-worn cameras in recent years and has seen the benefits of corroborating video evidence and officer testimony.
Its officers have actively used them since January 2023. The New Hampshire department was able to use American Rescue Plan Act funds and a state grant for its program’s first five years.
Hampstead police Chief Bob Kelley said he can’t imagine his officers operating without body cameras as the equipment has proved to be invaluable for documenting incidents and helping the public understand why officers made decisions or took certain actions in high intensity moments.
He said the majority of his officers were on board when talks began on implementing body cameras, stating they recognized the cameras’ benefits to provide evidence and protecting officers from false claims.
“They are an insurance policy for when officers are accused of doing something wrong,” Kelley said.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella released a final report on Thursday after two years passed since a March 2024 officer-involved shooting involving a Hampstead deputy chief and detective who were met on a call with a Hampstead man pointing a rifle at a Danville officer who had also responded to the house.
It found the body-camera footage of the officers who shot at the individual corroborated their descriptions of the series of events leading to and after the shooting.
As someone who wasn’t on scene when the incident unfolded, Kelley said the video footage backed up and provided a firsthand view of the accounts from the officers. Kelley noted that the footage validated that the men did their jobs, handled the call accordingly and training worked.
The Hampstead department has 20 cameras, 20 iCloud storage and 20 software user accounts along with a pool of online storage that holds all the videos. The officers were trained on how to operate the cameras and tag items in the software system. They also received training on the New Hampshire law that governs body cameras to make sure they don’t violate someone’s privacy rights.
Despite the administrative tasks that come with their management, Kelley said the policing tool has been worth it.
“Having that digital evidence to rule out people making uninformed speculation has been huge for us,” he said. “We say it all the time. The camera doesn’t lie.”
Methuen
“While body cameras are powerful tools for gathering evidence, it remains important for the public to understand that what is captured through the camera lens is not always exactly what the officer experienced through their own eyes in those dynamic, high-stress moments,” Methuen police Chief Scott McNamara said.
The technology was viewed as controversial by many in the law enforcement when it was first introduced in 2017, he said.
Methuen’s former chief, Joseph Solomon, and its police unions worked toward an early adoption of the program and have used body cameras since 2017.
While there may have been initial skepticism, McNamara said the officers have embraced the technology and rely on it every day in the field.
In Methuen, the body-camera footage has lent itself to creating a level of transparency within the community and the department. The software has also advanced to allow for redaction to protect sensitive information and the new capabilities for the officers to communicate in more than 50 languages with citizens.
“The results speak for themselves,” McNamara said. “Body cameras significantly reduce complaints against officers and, more often than not, exonerate them against unfounded allegations ranging from rudeness to excessive force.”
Southern New Hampshire
For some departments, the expense has played a factor into not implementing a program. But those same departments have done their research, run trials and are either actively pursuing body cameras or are committed to implementing a system in the near future.
In southern New Hampshire, Plaistow and Atkinson Police Departments don’t use body-worn cameras while Salem, New Hampshire, officers do.
Salem police began looking at a body camera program in 2020 before rolling one out in 2022. Salem police Capt. Jason Smith said his department has found the program has exceeded objectives set out for their use.
Those goals included providing accurate accounts of events, enhancing investigations of citizen complaints and providing accurate accounts of daily interactions between police and the public.
Plaistow police Chief John Santoro said his department has met and spoken with different vendors who sell them, as well as attend various presentations and demonstrations regarding the policing equipment.
However, for Plaistow, the expense is not feasible.
Santoro cited the high cost for data storage and in-house management of the system. Its last quote on the cameras, storage, software and holsters was $170,000.
The department would need to hire at least one civilian employee to manage the records, fill records requests and all required court discovery motions among other management needed with the videos.
The average full-time salary for an employee would be $58,000 plus benefits and puts the body camera initiative “out of reach,” Santoro said.
“We do hope that within the next few years the costs and related expenses become more affordable but as of now we will continue to go without them.”
The cost is also a factor in Atkinson, police Chief Timothy Crowley said. He said the greater expense is the camera’s storage and redaction.
But Crowley is confident Atkinson officers will use body cameras one day.
“They’re a great tool as long as people understand they’re just another witness and don’t see everything an officer’s eyes see,” he said.
Andover
In the Merrimack Valley, Andover police Chief Patrick Keefe expressed the same sentiment about pursuing body cameras in the future.
The Andover Police Department has been proactive in researching and pursuing the implementation of a body-worn camera program in the last several years. Keefe said his department was awarded a grant for fiscal 2022 for the purpose and began three multi-month trial programs with different providers.
The chief detailed how a key requirement of the grant was a successful negotiation and agreement with both of the department’s police unions. He said an agreement was reached with one, but it could not secure a consensus with both.
Keefe said through the process it was determined the annual cost of implementing a program at the time would have been nearly one-quarter of the police’s operating budget. It was also estimated the department would need to hire three additional officers to manage a body camera program.
“At the time, the Andover Police Department, like many agencies, was operating at minimum staffing levels across all shifts,” he said.
“The department continues to work toward achieving full staffing today, which remains a critical factor in moving forward with the program.”