Evanston Police Want To Expand Bodycam To All Sworn Officers

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston police want to expand their bodycam program by nearly 40 percent and deploy cameras on every officer. The City Council Monday will consider a five-year contract for more than $327,000 with Axon Enterprise. The city will cover almost $267,000 of the cost, with half the cost of the first two years rest coming from a grant from the Department of Justice, according to a memo to aldermen from Chief of Police Richard Eddington.

Currently, the Evanston Police Department has 120 body-worn cameras. They are used by officers in the patrol and traffic units, as well as the special operations and problem solving teams. Eddington recommended another 46 cameras to be provided to remaining sworn police department personnel who are not already assigned a camera. That includes detectives, juvenile detectives and school resource officers.

"The courts and the public expect body camera footage for an incident," Eddington wrote. "Body-worn cameras for law enforcement personnel are a best practice to reduce police complaints by citizens and increase accountability to the public."

Evanston police have recorded more than 27,000 videos in the six months since it fully deployed the system. The system has exonerated one officer from an allegation and allowed for the approval of felony charges from prosecutors "that would otherwise have not been possible" since its deployment, according to the memo.

The federal grant from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance is the second such grant the city has received in partnership with Northwestern University police since 2016. Unlike recordings created by Evanston police, which are considered public records under the 18-month-old Illinois Body-worn Camera Act, videos recorded by Northwestern's private police force are exempt from public records disclosure laws.

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