TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Mayor Jane Castor announced on Friday that the city had received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that will help expand the police department's body camera program.
- Federal grant for more than $600,000
- Grant funding, along with funds in mayor's budget, will pay to equip at least 600 officers
- New cameras expected to be in use as early as next month
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"The goal is to have every officer in uniform, some specialty squads and corporals as well wearing the body cameras," she said.
The grant for nearly $600,000, coupled with money included in the mayor's budget, will help equip at least 600 officers with cameras.
"It helps with transparency," said Assistant Chief Elias Vazquez. "One of the most important things in 21st century modern law enforcement is to have public trust, and to build public trust you need to have relationships, so this goes a long way toward building those relationships."
The body cameras will be cordless Bluetooth-activated cameras that will turn on automatically if an officer's holster is connected.
The department expects to use them a lot.
"We were able to negotiate an unlimited cost feature, so it won't cost us anymore depending on the usage," said Deputy Chief Lee Bercaw. "So we're going to use it more often than not."
Officer Kayla Chavis has been wearing a camera as part of a pilot program the Mayor started when she was Police Chief.
She said it's protected her from false complaints and helped her deal with suspects.
"There's times where I'll be interviewing suspects and I say, 'You know, not only is your statement sworn but I'm also recording,' and that seems to keep them more truthful than not," she said.
Castor said it will be expensive to keep the program going, so they'll continue to look for funding sources to offset costs.
Officers are expected to start training with the cameras soon and they'll start being used on more stops and calls as early as next month.