An Edinburgh family and local motorcycle group raised money to outfit their town’s police department with body cameras.
Chianne Woodall and her grandaughters, Eiley, Maddy and Paisley Hazelgrove, made and sold baked goods at Edinburgh’s Farmer’s Market with a goal to give back to Edinburgh police. They also partnered with the 8th Day Riders, a local motorcycle club, to put on a car show to benefit the department.
Together, the fundraisers brought in more than $3,000, which allowed Woodall to purchase 17 body cameras for the department.
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The new body cameras, along with a handful of cameras several officers purchased themselves to use on the job, will give all 12 full-time and seven reserve officers the power to record public interactions, said Doyne Little, the town’s police chief. Full-time officers will each have their own cameras, while reserve officers can check out a camera to use during shifts, he said.
The fundraiser began as a way for Woodall to give back to the department at a time when calls to defund and deemphasize police rang out across the country due to recent police-involved deaths, she said. Woodall, her granddaughters and the 8th Day Riders, wanted Edinburgh police to know residents have their backs.
Working on the fundraiser with her granddaughters was a way to set an example, she said.
“Because of everything going on, I don’t want my grandkids to have to be raised in a world with no police, no order,” Woodall said. “They have other family members who were doing the opposite and I wanted to show them the right way.”
The girls were glad to help out, Eiley Hazelgrove said.
“I think it is cool that we did this. I really enjoyed going to the farmer’s market and the people who were thanking us a lot. It made me feel good,” she said.
The 8th Day Riders, which hold several annual fundraisers to benefit the Edinburgh-area, helped show their appreciation for the police’s help via motorcycle rides and fundraisers, said Christi Salsman, a member.
“Every time we have a ride they help us out. It is a time when we need to support our police departments,” Salsman said.
Though she had worked on fundraisers with the 8th Day Riders before, Woodall had never undertaken one of her own, she said. She pulled it off with support from her granddaughters and friends in the Riders, and with many donations to the cause from the community, she said.
The fundraisers were even more successful than Woodall had hoped, she said. Their initial goal was to buy eight cameras, but they kept going when the goal was met before the farmer’s market season ended.
After making the decision to raise money for the local police, Woodall ran into Little while he was responding to a call in her area. They met up later to talk specifics about the kinds of cameras and how many were needed, Little said.
The outpouring of support was great to see, Little said. Beyond the fundraiser, little things such as letters of support from the community, have meant a lot in the past few months, he said.
“When you have calls that get to you, those things really mean a lot,” Little said.
To Little, the family is heroic for standing up and doing something to support a cause they believe in, he said.
“I told them at the car show, ‘there’s my heroes,’ and I really meant that. I mean it today. Especially kids your age don’t usually step forward. I think you have somebody right here who is pretty great, too. She’s the big hero,” Little said to the girls, gesturing to their grandmother.
Edinburgh police now has body cameras earlier than the town had planned to buy them. The cameras were one expense the town had been planning for next year. Now, that money can go toward other things, said JT Doane, town manager.
“It is amazing to see this family and our community come together to support our officers,” Doane said. “Public safety is a priority, so to see this initiative come together is wonderful.”
Little purchased his own camera about two years ago to try it out and help with his cases. Other officers have purchased cameras to support their work, too, Little said.
The department tried out a few different cameras and settled on an option that allows them to store footage locally instead of paying for more expensive cloud storage, Little said. Though cheaper than others at about $150, the cameras have night vision, can take still photos and are easy to switch on at a moment’s notice, he said.
Little is now looking at options for more local storage he says will fit into his budget.
Using an incident last weekend as an example, Little described one way cameras have already benefited the department:
“What it did for me is I got to see how well my guys worked with the fire department. They saved a guy’s life, and it was all caught on tape. That was really cool to be able to show that back to my guys and tell them how proud I am.”
Little is also working on finalizing a Standard Operating Procedure for body camera usage. The Edinburgh policy will pull ideas from policies in place at other, larger police departments, but will make sense for a small department, he said.
The SOP, complete with policies on usage and storage, will be reviewed by the town council and attorney.
Little hopes to finalize the SOP soon and give officers a few weeks to practice the routine of regularly using their body camera before putting the cameras in motion full-time Nov. 1, he said.
Edinburgh police will be the first small town department in Johnson County to wear body cameras. Greenwood police and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office have body cameras in place, and Franklin police will start wearing cameras early next year.
