City of Mankato moves closer to implementing body cameras

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Mankato City Council and Mankato Public Safety begin the process of choosing a company to bring body worn cameras to the city, bringing officers one step closer to using them.

“This is a project that has a number of pieces to work through, and this first piece was pretty important. This next piece will be equally important, because the next part of this is kind of working on the how,” Mankato City Manager Susan Arntz said.

The city and department expect to receive the body cameras this July.

But before that happens, the public will have the opportunity to give input on policies in-person and online between April and May.

“So there are eight points that state statute requires us to have feedback on and that’s anywhere from data retention to what situations we will record, what we will do if we decide not to record and a lot of those particulars. And we’ll be laying that out so the community has an idea about what they can address,” Public Safety Director Amy Vokal said.

The city said there is overall support for the cameras.

“We are very looking forward to getting body worn cameras. It’s been a long time in the making. Our officers whole-heartedly support the effort and feel that it will be good for our community, it will be good for our officers, it will be better for our prosecution and better for defense,” said Vokal.

According to an Every Voice Mankato poll conducted between February and March, out of 48 participants, 93.3 percent say purchasing body cameras is a good investment.

The city will review the policy between May and June before finally adopting it this summer.

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