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Henrico County police officers will begin wearing body-mounted cameras this fall.

County police hope to have the first 36 cameras in hand by Oct. 1, Police Chief Douglas A. Middleton told the county’s Board of Supervisors at a Tuesday meeting.

“It’s a huge asset to us in the investigation of cases and in the investigation of the complaints that come in as well,” Middleton told the supervisors.

Agencies that already use the cameras have seen sharp drops in complaints, he said.

According to Henrico police Capt. Linda Toney, the department began researching body cameras more than six months ago, well before recent events in Ferguson, Mo., where days of violent protests were set off by the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.

The department aims to have a camera for each of the 400 or so uniformed officers in the county by Jan. 1, 2016, Middleton said. “Obviously, a lot of things can interfere with that, but that’s what I would like to have happen,” he told the board.

The cameras will cost $800 each.

“We’re going to use money that we took from drug dealers to pay for it,” Middleton told the supervisors.