New Interview Cameras Coming to Mill Valley Police Department

When Mill Valley police conduct interviews at the station, they’ll soon have state-of-the-art video and audio cameras to record the conversation. Which means, unlike the outdated cameras there now, they’ll hopefully turn them on.

The current recording system is from 1998 and later, J. Angel Bernal, chief of police, told the City Council on Tuesday.

“It’s cumbersome to use, and sometimes it’s not being used,” he said.

Police are likely to turn on an upgraded system more frequently, and the recordings will help with cases as they move forward in court, Bernal said. The new cameras will go in the main interview room, the juvenile holding facility, and the detention room at the police station.

They’ll be purchased, for $32,000, using surplus funds from an annual $100,000 state grant for the police department’s community officer position. The City Council gave a routine approval of that position for $98,000, along with the upgraded video system.