|
 More than a half-dozen companies are competing to supply the
nation's nearly 700,000 sworn officers with body cameras, which can
cost between $350 and $700 apiece.
(For a graphic on wearable body cameras, go to
http://reut.rs/1FFe2LH)
In addition to the cost of cameras, expensive systems are required
to process and archive the many hours of video footage produced by
the cameras, and the cost of storing archived footage can dwarf the
initial equipment costs.
A Reuters survey of the 20 largest U.S. police forces found
widespread interest in the devices. But while 16 departments have
equipped some officers with cameras or plan to do so, not one has
yet been able to provide kits to all its patrol officers, the survey
found.
In Boston, for instance, where body cameras are not currently used,
police officials are interested but unsure that widespread
deployment will be possible. “Cost is always a factor. Whether it is
prohibitive or not remains to be seen,” said police spokesman James
Kenneally.
Suffolk County, New York is the only one of the 20 departments
surveyed that is not currently considering cameras. In a statement,
the Long Island force said it will monitor the experiences of other
departments, including their budget issues, before deciding whether
to deploy the technology.
In Baltimore, where six officers have been suspended while
authorities investigate the death of a man who suffered a fatal
spine injury while in custody, a pilot program is due to launch this
week.
But Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has cautioned against moving too
quickly. “We’ve seen in other jurisdictions around the country where
there's been a rush to implementation and it has cost taxpayers
millions of dollars," she said Monday on MSNBC's Morning Joe
program.
Many police departments are still recovering from budget cuts and
don't expect to reach pre-recession funding levels again until 2018,
said Hassan Aden, director of research and programs at the
International Association of Chiefs of Police.
And so far, there has been little progress on promised help from the
federal government. President Barack Obama in December announced a
$75-million initiative to fund purchases of 50,000 body cameras, but
the funding has stalled due to inaction in Congress.
COSTS AND BENEFITS
One of the few large cities to move beyond the pilot program stage
is San Diego. Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman said the city council
decided to fund cameras because of past instances of police
misconduct. Six hundred of the city's police are using cameras now,
and the force hopes to equip all 1,000 patrol officers by the end of
the year.
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One highly variable cost is storage. Departments set up their own
rules about how long footage is stored, usually with input from city
officials, community members and police unions. In San Diego,
recordings of small interactions, such as traffic warnings, will be
stored for as little as six months. Recordings used in
investigations or ongoing court cases, will be kept until the case
is closed.
The purchase price of San Diego's cameras ranged from $300 to $500,
depending on the sophistication of the model. But the total cost of
the program in the city's first year was $1 million, largely because
of the cost of storage, which will be ongoing. Docking stations for
uploading footage to a cloud-based service ran $1495 per unit,
according to a copy of the city's contract with its supplier, Taser
International Inc..
Los Angeles, which plans to deploy 860 cameras this summer, will
make an initial outlay of $1.5 million for equipment, maintenance
and storage, the department told Reuters.
STARTING SMALL
In Phoenix, where police took pay and benefit cuts in a 2014 budget
shortfall, outfitting every patrol officer could cost up to $3.5
million, spokesman Sgt. Kevin Johnson told Reuters.
Officers in only one Phoenix precinct now use cameras. "We would
like to go citywide, ... but we're going to do it smart and in
increments," said Johnson.
Eleven of the 20 largest departments, including New York, Chicago
and Washington, D.C., are conducting pilot programs to test
equipment and evaluate the worth of employing cameras.
Even programs that start small have been good for body camera
suppliers. Taser reported sales of its Axon business, which includes
recording devices as well as an accompanying cloud-based storage
system, increased 82 percent to $18.9 million in 2014 versus 2013.
Rick Smith, CEO of Taser, said departments may pay more in the long
run if they don't purchase the cameras. “The argument we’re seeing
today is why don’t we spend a bit more on cameras now and we’ll save
a lot on litigation in the future,” said Smith.
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Sue Horton)
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