ALBANY – A small group of city police officers will begin using body-worn cameras on patrols starting Monday as the department rolls out its new body cam program to the entire department.

Acting Albany Police Chief Robert Sears said Friday that the devices will be distributed to about 10 or 11 officers at a time, beginning at the department's Central Station on Western Avenue. The process will take place until all 250 cameras are deployed.

"We're going to do a very slow and methodical training process," Sears said. "It's going to take a little bit."

The department is using the Axon Body 2 camera that retails for $399. Axon Enterprises, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., makes the popular Taser line of stun guns. It used to go by the name Taser International, but changed its name in April.

A committee of 20 officers volunteered to test out four different camera models before settling on the Axon Body 2, which weighs a few ounces and is about the size of a wallet. The Philadelphia Police Department purchased 4,500 of the Axon Body 2 cameras last month.

"It worked real well," Sears said of the Axon model. "The testers had very little trouble using it."

The devices will eventually be worn by all patrol officers, traffic safety officers, K-9 handlers and members of the Neighborhood Engagement Unit. They will be turned on during calls for service and street encounters.

"It's one of the growing trends in the industry, a lot of departments are going with these," Sears said. "They're not perfect. They're not going to solve every problem, but I personally believe they will help with accuracy, because many times people will remember something and they truly remember it that way — but it really isn't the way that it happened. That happens for both officers, citizens, everybody. This will add a level of accuracy to a lot of things we're going to be doing."

Officer Jimm Lewis, one of the 20 people who did camera testing, said he doesn't feel like the body cams will change the way he and others on the force do their jobs. He said the department has already used dashboard cams in police vehicles. And cell phones, surveillance and other cameras are everywhere these days.

In modern policing, "we're always on camera all the time," Lewis said. "We're always being recorded."

Most video will only be saved for 180 days, while footage of arrests, use of force and episodes involved in citizen complaints will be saved indefinitely according to the department's body cam policy.

A committee of Albany residents helped draft the camera policy, including the rules for data collection and retention, policy development and training, privacy, and internal and external complaints and analysis.

For more details on the process, visit the department's website.

Two years ago, the police department was awarded a $133,305 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance — money that had to be matched by the city — to establish the camera program.

The annual cost of maintaining the program will be $284,000 a year, Sears said.