Police officers in Guthrie will soon be equipped with body-worn cameras.
The Guthrie Police Department will be receiving 13 wearable digital video cameras at a cost of $10,920.
The department was awarded a state grant in the amount of $10,000. The remaining $920 will be subtracted from the GPD budget to cover the cost.
The purchase of the camera system will help officers to document actions and evidence in a much better fashion, resulting in less liability to the City and more effective prosecutions.
Due to recent events nation-wide, the topic of officers wearing cameras has ramped up, including from the White House.
President Barack Obama wants to see more police wearing cameras to record events.
Obama is proposing a three-year, $263 million spending package to increase use of body-worn cameras, expand training for law enforcement and add more resources for police department reform. The package includes $75 million for to help pay for 50,000 of the small, lapel-mounted cameras to record police on the job, with state and local governments paying half the cost. The FBI estimates there were just under 700,000 law enforcement officers in the US in 2011.
maybe our citizens should wear cameras too