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North Andover police working to get body cameras after Kelsey Fitzsimmons shooting
North Andover will "actively seek grant funding to help offset the direct taxpayer expense," Town Manager Melissa Rodrigues said.
North Andover officials are actively working to create a body-worn camera program for police officers, nine months after an officer was shot by her colleague in an incident that drew widespread attention to the North Andover Police Department’s lack of cameras.
Town Manager Melissa Rodrigues confirmed that the town is working with police leaders to implement a body-worn camera program.
“The North Andover Police Department administration is working actively with the Town to implement a body worn camera program. Initiating such a program is a stated goal of the Select Board. The Town will actively seek grant funding to help offset the direct taxpayer expense. We are keenly aware that body cameras will showcase the high degree of skill and challenging work done each day by the men and women of the police department,” Rodrigues said in a statement to Boston.com Friday.
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A judge acquitted the officer who was shot, Kelsey Fitzsimmons, last week. Fitzsimmons had been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon after an armed confrontation in her North Andover home last June.
Fitzsimmons, who is no longer with NAPD, was an officer on maternity leave at the time. Three colleagues arrived at her house to serve her a restraining order that had been granted to her then-fiancé. When Fitzsimmons was left alone with another officer on the second floor of the house, she pulled out a handgun.
The other officer testified that Fitzsimmons tried to shoot him, causing him to fear for his life and shoot her. Fitzsimmons testified that she only ever pointed the weapon at her own head, with the intention of taking her own life. She was shot once in the chest and spent more than 50 days in the hospital.
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Fitzsimmons and her defense attorneys have repeatedly questioned why there is no NAPD body-worn camera program. Judge Jeffrey Karp emphasized the lack of cameras after overseeing a bench trial.
“Perhaps the commonwealth could have easily met its burden if the officers had been wearing body cameras. But under these circumstances, I am left with a reasonable doubt,” he said before announcing his verdict.
The state has been providing grant money to municipal police departments that want to set up body-worn camera programs since 2021. State officials have awarded almost $13 million to local police for cameras and related equipment. At least 144 local police departments have received funding through the program, according to state officials. Thirty-two departments recently received new funding.
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