What's Happening in Irving, TX…

Although the Irving Police Department recently purchased about 200 body cameras for all its patrol officers, it is ordering more, this time for its school resource officers, who are considered specialists.

The order, which comprises 42 cameras, is expected to arrive in about one month, according to an article on the NBC website.

School resource officers (SROs) are sworn officers, and they must turn the cameras on whenever they are on a call, or engaged in an active investigation. In a school, it's likely that the majority of the footage, which is uploaded to servers in the police department, will be of minors.

The release of any footage of children or teens is “heavily regulated,” according to Officer James McLellan. He said that any request for footage of minors would go first through the police department's lawyers, and then it would have to be reviewed by the Attorney General.

Police said body cameras are important tools in the investigation of certain incidents. McLellan noted that school resource officers are sworn police, and they are able to enforce laws. If such enforcement means they need to capture an incident on camera, they will do so, since the laws apply to both adults and children.

Agencies like these might benefit by working with postcard printing companies, which can create informative cards for area-wide mailings.