Oakland police will receive uniform-mounted cameras within the next few weeks, The Oakland Tribune reported Thursday.
The cell phone-sized cameras will cost more than half a million dollars for the whole system that includes 350 cameras. The money allotted for the cameras was originally going to go to an in-car system surveillance program, but the equipment never worked properly and the company that provided the system went belly-up.
The video footage from the cameras can never be deleted. Department spokesman Officer Jeff Thomason told the Tribune that the new technology could “streamline the truth-finding process by providing the best evidence” and “provide an additional layer of accountability and trust between the police and the public.”
Officers don’t have to tell anybody they encounter that they are being filmed since there is no expectation of privacy in a public.
