Akron Police Department rolling out body camera program
AKRON, OH (WOIO) - The Akron Police have announced there are new sets of eyes watching out in the city.
City officials are hoping the body cameras increase transparency in policing.
"I think it highlights the importance of what we're trying to do in investing in some of these technologies now to increase our transparency and increase our accountability. We've made the commitment for that, this is how we need to do that and I applaud all of our partners in being able to help and getting community input and saying this is what we want," said Mayor Daniel Horrigan.
More than 100 officers are already wearing the cameras. Once training is complete, all 245 officers will wear them.
"Because of the climate that we find ourselves in now the biggest benefit is the fact the community is going to see that we are in favor of transparency. I'm excited for the professionalism of our officers that will be on display in these critical encounters that will now be available to the public with these video camera," said interim police Chief Kenneth Ball.
The police department has also set a new policy requiring officers to record all interactions with the public, unless a private citizen refuses.
The city won a $367,000 federal grant, which paved the way for the purchase of the cameras.
According to police, all recordings will be stored on the department's cloud.
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