Body cameras on police at Ferguson protest

Cleveland City Council on Monday approved $1.6 million to buy police body cameras such as those shown here on officers in Ferguson, Mo.

(Huy Mach, St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland City Council passed legislation Monday authorizing the Police Department to spend $1.6 million to equip hundreds of patrol officers with body cameras as early as the first quarter of 2015.

Some council members have been calling for the cameras for years, arguing that the footage would aid criminal investigations and clear up controversy surrounding police shootings and accusations of misconduct. Council authorized the city a year ago to spend as much as $2.4 million on a combination of body and dashboard-mounted cameras.

Safety Director Michael McGrath said last week that he eventually decided on body cameras only. They're less expensive, he said, and although they can be mounted to a dashboard if necessary, their vantage point is not limited to the view from the patrol car.

The city tested the body cameras in the spring on 200 officers in the Second and Fourth Police Districts.

But City Councilman Zack Reed on Monday demanded to know why the cameras cannot be deployed by Jan. 1, if the tests are complete and the financing is in place. He pointed out that the city has experienced three police-involved shootings in the past 30 days. In one case, an officer was shot in his bullet-proof vest – a close call reminiscent of the shooting death of Patrolman Derek Owens in 2008, Reed said.

"In my opinion, this is an emergency situation," Reed said. "You've done all the legwork, the policies are in place. So the next step is to pick the vendor, go to the board of control and get these cameras in the hands of police officers."

McGrath said that the city wants to be thoughtful in selecting the best manufacturer, developing policies and training officers before deploying the cameras. He said that when Tasers became popular, police departments across the country were too hasty in equipping their officers with the weapons and ended up having to recall them because training was inadequate.

After the hearing, Reed issued a news release demanding that the city also make an effort to improve the police's relationship with the community. He said he would work with the administration and would be interested in holding a forum to discuss ways to increase sensitivity among officers.