Newark Police Among NJ Cities To Get Body Camera Funding From Feds

NEWARK, NJ — The NJ State Police and four Garden State municipalities - Newark, Camden, Haledon and Evesham - will share in a $20 million grant from the U.S Department of Justice that will help 106 state, city, tribal and municipal law enforcement agencies across the nation to establish and enhance body-worn camera programs, officials announced Monday.

The awards - funded under the Office of Justice Programs' Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Fiscal Year 2016 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program - will help law enforcement organizations implement body-worn camera policies, practices and evaluation methods, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The New Jersey awards include:

• NJ State Police – $575,361
• Newark Police Department – $372,500
• Camden County Police Department– $118,500
• Evesham Township Police Department – $144,000
• Borough of Haledon Police Department – $17,920

"These federal grants will enable Newark, Camden, Haledon, Evesham and the NJ State Police to provide body-worn cameras for their officers and develop comprehensive policies for their use," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. "The information these cameras capture will be a valuable new resource for more effective policing that also respects the rights of citizens."

"As we strive to support local leaders and law enforcement officials in their work to protect their communities, we are mindful that effective public safety requires more than arrests and prosecutions," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. "It also requires winning — and keeping — the trust and confidence of the citizens we serve. These grants will help more than 100 law enforcement agencies promote transparency and ensure accountability, clearing the way for the closer cooperation between residents and officers that is so vital to public safety."

The BJA expects award recipients to “create programs that will be integrated as part of individual jurisdictions' holistic problem-solving and community-engagement strategies,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

In addition to the New Jersey recipients, the grant awardees include law enforcement agencies located in 31 states and Puerto Rico: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Tribal awardees include: Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi.

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