A plan to equip Los Angeles police officers with body cameras will be unveiled today at 2 p.m. by Mayor Eric Garcetti and police Chief Charlie Beck.
The proposal, which will be outlined at an afternoon press conference, will involve expanding a pilot program that outfitted 600 body cameras at a cost of $1.35 million in private donations.
Palisadian and Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff, who raised the funds for the pilot program, said earlier this month the city should pursue federal funds.
Soboroff estimated that the city would need about 2,000 cameras to outfit all its police patrol officers.
He also said the cameras would shield both residents and police officers, and their use in other cities have been known to reduce complaints against officers by as much as 80 percent.
LAPD officials tested two brands of body cameras over the past three months and recently chose the Taser body cameras, which are designed to be worn on the chest, over ones made by Coban, for use in the pilot program.
The Police Commission is expected to consider policies for using the cameras early next year, Soboroff said.
President Barack Obama recently announced that he wants $263 million in federal funds for the training of police officers, and for the purchase of body cameras to be worn by local law enforcement.
The request came in the wake of protests over a grand jury’s decision not to indict the white police officer who killed Michael Brown, an unarmed, 18-year-old black man, in Ferguson, Missouri.
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