Like many regional partnerships, the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) covers a large area and a broad range of tactical challenges. NEMLEC is made up of 63 police agencies in North East Massachusetts, and serves the citizens of a 923 mile area.
NEMLEC SWAT – credit Lowell Sun
Part of the consortium of NEMLEC is their SWAT unit, which regularly uses Bounce Imaging camera systems in their work as they try to reduce risk to officers and diffuse / de-escalate tense situations to minimize dangers to civilians.
Carmine Vivolo, of Somerville PD as well as the NEMLEC SWAT team, was recently kind enough to share a few scenarios in which his team was able to use Bounce Imaging cameras to reduce risk to officers while de-escalating situations in which civilians could have been harmed.
In the first example, officers arrived at the scene and were faced with a barricaded suspect somewhere in a structure. The team threw their Bounce Imaging tactical camera system into the basement of the barricaded house in an attempt to gain situational awareness, only to discover the suspect attempting to light his own hot water heater on fire. They were able to rush down and apprehend the suspect before he was able to destroy the house and potentially injure the team and himself.
In the second example, the NEMLEC team approached a house with a suspect inside. They could not get the suspect to come out or to respond to commands. They were able to deploy their Bounce camera into the room and were able to see the suspect at the door, pointing a gun towards it, waiting for them to enter. At that point they did not breach the door as they were prepared to do but instead were able to negotiate with the suspect (once he knew he had been spotted) and de-escalate with the knowledge that they could see him and what he was doing. This allowed the team to both protect their officers and reduce the risk to the suspect.
Carmine’s final thoughts on the system were: “We use this tool a lot, especially on the tether and oriented as a pole camera for more control. We love it, it works great, it’s very convenient and easy to use as well as easy to carry.” As a team, NEMLEC always strives to de-escalate and reduce risk in tense environments when possible, and situational awareness tools like Bounce Imaging cameras help them achieve that goal.
The NEMLEC team is faced with call outs and challenges everyday to protect and serve the citizens of the North East Massachusetts area. They have equipped their teams that face the most dangerous situations with Bounce Imaging Tactical Cameras to help them gain valuable situational awareness and intel, helping them make smarter decisions to keep both law enforcement personnel and civilians safer.