Police in Sherman Oaks to Wear Body Cameras

Mayor Eric Garcetti will join police Chief Charlie Beck today to detail a plan to outfit all Los Angeles police officers with body cameras.

The proposal would expand on a pilot program involving 600 body cameras paid for by $1.35 million in private donations.

President Barack Obama recently announced that he wants $263 million in federal funds to go toward training police officers and buying body cameras to be worn by law enforcement. The request came in the wake of protests over a grand jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who killed Michael Brown, an unarmed, 18-year-old black man, in Ferguson, Missouri.

Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff, who raised the funds for the city’s pilot program, said earlier this month the city should pursue the federal funds. He estimates the city would need about 2,000 cameras to outfit all police officers on patrol.

He also said the cameras would shield both residents and police officers, and their use in other cities have been known to reduce complaints against officers by as much as 80 percent.

LAPD officials tested two brands of body cameras over the past three months and recently chose the Taser body cameras, which are designed to be worn on the chest, over ones made by Coban, for use in the pilot program.

The Police Commission is expected to consider policies for using the cameras early next year, Soboroff said.

• City News Service
• Photo Credit: Youtube screengrab