Montgomery County To Outfit Police In Schools With Body Cameras

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) -- Unusual move. A Maryland county becomes one of the first in the state to outfit police in schools with body cameras.

Rick Ritter with what's behind the change and what it could mean for your children.

The move hasn't happened everywhere, but one department is hoping to serve as the model agency. Students tell WJZ body cameras already have kids second-guessing what they do inside of school.

From a brutal beatdown inside a Baltimore City school to shots fired at a Frederick High basketball game, over the past year, there's been no shortage of drama on Maryland school grounds.

To jump in front of potential incidents, Montgomery County police have implemented body cameras on three of their high school resource officers.

"You're walking down the hallways, and you never know when a fight will break out, or god forbid, someone comes into school with a gun," said Officer Rick Goodale, Montgomery County Police Department.

This, part of a pilot program for the department, which includes roughly 70 officers, meaning those who help respond to incidents at school could be equipped with cameras as well.

"Having a body camera on you and the ability to start recording if something happens would be invaluable," said Officer Goodale.

Seneca Valley High is one school where students say the body cameras have already de-escalated certain situations and have many kids thinking twice.

"Say you did something, now you actually have proof somebody did or did not do something," said Clarke Singleton, Seneca Valley tenth grader.

It's not just students, but parents--like James Simms--who are also on board.

"With all the trouble going on in these schools now, that could help," he said.

With both Baltimore City and Baltimore County police working on body camera programs as well, Baltimore schools could be next in line.

Baltimore County police will have about 150 body cameras in their department. There are no plans at this time to put them on officers working in schools.

The pilot program for Montgomery County police will last about a year.

Police say they worked with school officials to resolve issues such as student privacy before the cameras were put into use.

Right now, they're using two different camera models. At the end of the program, they'll decide which model better fits their department.

For school resource officers, the cameras won't be activated during daily duties such as securing the school or talking to students and teachers, but if something happens, then the cameras would be activated.