Frequently Asked Questions About Phase Two of the BWC Program:
Q: Why are they only being deployed in the Fifth and Seventh District?
A: Eventually, our goal is for every patrol officer, and some other officers with frequent citizen contact, to wear a camera. This will happen in phases. For this next phase, we have 400 cameras to deploy. The research team helped us to determine that we should concentrate the deployment in two districts.
Q: Why were the Fifth and Seventh District selected for the first deployment?
A: The Fifth and Seventh District were selected because they each have a very high number of citizen contacts with police.
Q: I don't live in the Fifth or Seventh District. When will officers in my district have body-worn cameras?
A: The Department has received funding to purchase approximately 1,200 additional cameras in Fiscal Year 2016, for a total of approximately 1,600 cameras. We will deploy 200 cameras in each of the remaining five police districts (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th) as quickly and effectively as we can do so. The procurement process is anticipated to take a few months, so this will likely start in the winter 2015. The cameras will be deployed to all police districts by September 2016.
Q: My police district has more than 200 officers. Does that mean that not every officer will be wearing a camera?
A: Eventually, our goal is for every patrol officer, and other officers with frequent citizen contact, to wear a camera. However, since we only received funding to support 1,600 cameras in 2016, this will be done in phases. Given the number of cameras we will be able to purchase and maintain, the research team has designed a deployment strategy that will support a robust analysis of the effectiveness of the cameras by maintaining a control group of officers with no cameras in each district. If the cameras are effective, we will ask for funding to support additional cameras in future budgets.