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Police focus on gathering evidence |
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Tuesday, 01 July 2008 |
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Photo and story by SHAWN YORKS
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Below: Guymon Police Lt. Detective Jason Bond shows the newest tool the Guymon Police Department utilizes — a digital camera. 
The newest tool of the Guymon Police Department is so small, it can fit in the palm of your hand.
It's a digital camera, and it has been making life a little less complicated for officers for about a week now.
The cameras, which cost $3,138, were purchased with drug forfeiture money from the District Attorney's office.
"It'll be used to record evidence for court, primarily on drug cases," said Guymon Police Chief Eddie Adamson. "But also for any domestic violence case. We are mandating that for all domestic violence cases officer photograph any evidence, even if it's not seen."
For example, if a victim says they were hit, the officer will take a picture of the area struck, even if a bruise is not present.
"We'll take pictures of the condition of the home, and anything like that," Adamson said. "We download the pictures into our computer base, and we've got it from then on."
Officers had access to a few cameras in the past, but they were not made available to patrol officers simply because there were not enough cameras to go around.
Police can also photograph fingerprints and use those for identification purposes. And the best part of all, the cameras have audio/video capabilities.
"They come in handy every time they go out on the street," Adamson said. "It's great to be able to reach into your pocket and take pictures at an accident scene — anything like that, that you need evidence of for any type of court, or just to record — it'll be an invaluable tool for us to to be able to use for documenting evidence."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 July 2008 )
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