(INDIANAPOLIS) — Indianapolis has begun equipping police officers with body cameras.
East District officers will be the first to get cameras. IMPD plans to hook up 10 officers a day until the entire force is wired for video by early October, a week or two later than originally scheduled.
Police Chief Randal Taylor says the cameras will turn on automatically when an officer arrives at a
dispatched call, draws his gun, gets in a fight or a chase, turns on his lights and siren, or goes down.
If the camera malfunctions, or if an officer uses a manual override, he’ll have to file a written report with his supervisor.
Taylor says he plans to release video in controversial incidents like shootings, unless it would interfere with an investigation. Video will upload automatically to a cloud server, where state law requires the department to preserve it for at least six months. If there’s legal action in that time, it’ll be preserved longer.
The City-County Council approved the camera program last fall. The company selected, Georgia-based Bodyworn by Utility, supplies cameras for a dozen other Indiana police departments, including the Boone, Hancock, and Hendricks County Sheriff’s Departments, and the city of Lawrence.
