LA to equip 7,000 police officers with body cams

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced a plan to equip 7,000 Los Angeles police officers with on-body cameras by next summer, making LA's police department the nation's largest law enforcement agency to move forward with such an ambitious expansion of the technology.

The plan was unveiled Tuesday at a news conference where Garcetti said he was planning to put forward millions of dollars in next year's budget for the cameras, and that the first wave of more than 800 cameras would roll out as early as January.

"This is a huge step for law enforcement. No other major city is even close to implementation," said Police Chief Charlie Beck.

Since the shooting the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, the use of body cameras has become part of the debate over police behavior.

"Body cameras won't solve every problem in policing. But having video of police officers' interactions with the public will help hold officers' accountable for misconduct, quickly exonerate officers who are wrongly accused, and help the public understand the powers we give police and how they use them," said Hector Villagra, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California.

Villagra said the most important part of the process would be setting the guidelines overseeing the new technology, such as when the cameras are turned on and off, or whether officers can review the recordings after using force.

Los Angeles police commission President Steve Soboroff said he estimated the cameras would cost roughly $10 million for the first two to three years. The cameras will include technology and software from Arizona-based Taser International Inc.

The announcement follows a year of multiple field tests of the body cameras on a small number of the Los Angeles Police Department's 9,900 officers. The LAPD has also received a $1 million National Institute of Justice grant given to study their use of body cameras on policing.

Nationally, officers in one of every six departments now patrol with tiny cameras on their chests, lapels or sunglasses, and that number is growing.

Many law enforcement officials support cameras' use and say they are effective. The police department in Rialto, California, found after a yearlong University of Cambridge study last year that the cameras led to an 89 percent drop in complaints against officers, possibly reining in misbehavior on the part of the public and officers, as well as ultimately limiting department liability.

After an outcry over the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, President Barack Obama recommended spending $74 million to equip another 50,000 officers with them.  

Garcetti said the city would be applying for some of those funds.

Beck said the cameras will not be officially in use until a policy has been devised with consultation from stakeholders and the public. It must be approved by the civilian oversight commission and City Council.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League has been in favor of the cameras, but the union is still working out details on how the cameras will impact privacy and working conditions for officers, President Tyler Izen said.

The Associated Press