ARLINGTON — Chief Julie Flaherty is pleased to announce that the Arlington Police Department has been awarded $43,035 in state grant funds allocated by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research (OGR) Body-Worn Camera (BWC) grant program.
Subject to successful collective bargaining between the Town of Arlington and its police unions, the funding will allow the Arlington Police Department to equip every officer in the department with a body-worn camera. The grant also will fund an on-premises server for secure video storage for the department.
While the final startup and annual maintenance/storage costs are pending, the department intends to use the grant funding to offset much of the startup costs and fund the balance of the program in its annual budget.
“We are very appreciative to receive grant funding to support this technology which is an important step in maintaining our department’s transparency and accountability within the community,” Chief Flaherty said.
The Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Grant Program will equip municipal police departments across the Commonwealth with body-worn cameras. Approximately $20 million in funding will be used to purchase 9,000 cameras for Massachusetts police officers over the next five years.
The Baker-Polito Administration included funding for this program as part of its FY22 Capital Budget Plan. The grant application process requires each municipal department to submit a comprehensive deployment plan that describes a deliberate and phased plan to deploy the technology, as well as specific ways the proposed program will enhance the agency’s mission.
President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing placed a priority on body camera research and camera programs. The Task Force’s final report indicated that officers wearing body cameras had “87.5 percent fewer incidents of use of force and 59 percent fewer complaints than the officers not wearing the cameras.”
According to a recent poll by the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, only 10% of Massachusetts municipal departments operate a body-worn camera program. However, the same poll indicated that 75% of departments in major cities and smaller communities are interested in starting a program.
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