Sudbury, Wayland To Get State Money For Police Body Cameras

SUDBURY, MA — Sudbury and Wayland are two of the 64 communities across the state that will receive state assistance to buy police body cameras, part of a larger plan to implement the technology more widely across Massachusetts.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced a round of grants on Dec. 30 totaling about $4 million. Wayland will get $48,400 for the program and Sudbury will get $35,500.

Very few police departments in Massachusetts use bodycams. But Baker has set a goal of outfitting about 9,000 officers with the devices over five years. The state will give out a total of $20 million to departments across the state to help cut costs.

Related: Few Police Wear Body Cams In MA; Cost, Privacy Are Concerns

Bodycam manufacturers often sell the devices with other items as a bundle. The leading bodycam maker, Seattle-based Axon, sells the cameras along with Tasers and data plans to store videos. In Worcester, department leaders in 2020 estimated it would cost about $11 million over five years to outfit about 450 officers — a cost of about $5,000 per officer, per year.

To be eligible for grants, the Baker administration required departments to submit plans for how the bodycams will be deployed.

Sudbury Chief Scott Nix said the department wants to outfit every officer and patrol car with cameras, and he is negotiating with a union representing Sudbury sergeants over the implementation of bodycams. He has already secured an agreement with the patrolman's union.

Nix said the program would likely not be in place until after July 1 as the department works through issues like cost and transparency. Bodycam videos are subject to public records requests, which means the department will have to figure out ways to store loads of video data — the state grant can't be used to pay for data storage, he said — and redact sensitive information.

"We're hoping to bring a new level of transparency to the department," he said.