Detroit City Council Approves $5.2 Million For Police Body And Squad Car Cameras
DETROIT (WWJ) - The Detroit City Council has agreed to spend $5.2 million for body and in-vehicle cameras for the Detroit Police Department.
Council members on Tuesday approved a contract for 1,500 cameras to be worn by officers and 450 in-car dash cameras. A federal grant will pay $1 million of the cost.
Detroit Police Chief James Craig said he'll start with a limited trial run of the police office body and squad car cams the last week in June.
"We will launch a 60-day what we call risk mitigation period in two precincts, the fourth and seventh precincts. There will be 20 body-worn camera per precinct, with 10 in-car videos," Craig told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
"The way that this system, like the existing in-car cameras, works — they have what's called triggers," he explained. "So there are certain police activities that would trigger the camera to activate: one, the activation of the overhead lights. I think speed is another one; impact is another."
Craig said these body cameras, from Texas-based company WatchGuard Video, are the first to be integrated with squad car videos — meaning they shift to the body cams as soon as the officer is out of camera range of the car.
Craig said the new cameras will go a long way in improving transparency, adding that "the most important thing" his department can have "is the trust of the citizens."
President Barack Obama has promoted the use of body cameras by police after the 2014 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
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