Worcester Police Launch Body Cam Program

WORCESTER, MA — Starting May 1 some Worcester police officers will be wearing body cameras as part of a new pilot program in the city. The program is six months long and will end in November 2019. Twenty officers will participate in the program.

The department said Axon Enterprise donated 20 body cameras at no cost to the city. Axon also donated twenty extra cameras in case of malfunction. Axon is an Arizona based company and the leading national provider of police body cameras. The company develops weapons and technology for law enforcement agencies. The value of the donation is $33,174

The twenty officers include sixteen from the operations division, two from the traffic division, and two from the neighborhood response team. They will wear the cameras for their regular tour of duty during the six month pilot program. The department said all of the officers involved volunteered to participate in the pilot program.

The cameras record audio and video, and upload their data to the cloud when they are placed in their docking bay at the end of the officers' shifts. The officers who are participating in the pilot program have been thoroughly trained in the operation of the cameras and the department’s policy about their proper use.

Worcester police have been discussing the possibility of using body cameras since the August 2014 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

“We hope to use our body cameras to increase transparency, resolve complaints, de-escalate volatile situations, and improve our training. Our officers do amazing work day in and day out, and we have confidence that this will be captured in the footage," said Chief Sargent. "During the pilot, we will assess the effectiveness of the cameras and continue to study the most productive way to use them.”