Windham police cruisers will soon be equipped with digital video recorders, following action by the town council last week.

The new cameras record directly onto DVDs, not VHS like the town had been using. WatchGuard Video of Plano, Texas, sells its WatchGuard DV-1 In-Cruiser Video Units for $4,755 each. The $38,000 price tag for eight cameras was softened by a $15,775 Bureau of Highway Safety grant.

“The technology has changed, the justification remains the same,” said Police Chief Rick Lewsen. He said the town first started using in-car cameras in 1993, when industry leaders predicted they would become a new standard in law enforcement.

In-car cameras mounted in the front of each police cruiser allow a jury to see the actions of a violent drunk driver, and reassure residents that police officers are acting within the law, Lewsen said.

Lewsen said the old system, which included a heavy VHS recorder in the trunk of each police cruiser, had a few problems that the new system corrected.

“It doesn’t have to run on a cold tape through the trunk of a car,” he said. Hot and cold weather can cause a lot of quality problems for a 30-year-old technology like VHS.

In the past, audio was recorded with portable microphones clipped to the officer’s belt. The new system, which is smaller and still goes on the officer’s belt, has a much higher sound quality level and is wireless.

Lewsen said he heard about the digital systems through the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The new, smaller system is mounted on the ceiling of the cruiser and produces an 8-hour DVD divided into chapters like a entertainment DVD for each traffic stop.

WatchGuardDV: The Windham Police Department’s new digital in-cruiser camera system will use these small devices mounted onto the ceiling instead of bulky VHS recorders in the trunk.