The department has agreed to purchase 17 computer and video systems, which means all cruisers will soon be equipped with the technology. The bottom-line price of $49,572 to purchase the equipment was covered by a combination of forfeiture funds, mandatory court fines and charitable gaming proceeds from organizations like the Moose and Eagles.

"None of this came from our police budget," Chief Tim Wiersma said. "This is not taxpayer money."

The department even managed to stay local when shopping for a very specialized product, buying the systems from Universal Comlink of Fremont. Wiersma said he was very happy to be able to support a local business and noted that the company gave them a large discount because of that.

After researching the equipment, he said, it was clear that most of the major law enforcement equipment providers would have charged about $4,000 per cruiser just for video systems. The price quoted the department for both video and laptops through Universal Comlink was $2,619 per car.