States Struggle to Pay for Police Body Cameras: Only a Handful of States Have Figured Out How To Pay For Them
By Jake Grovum, Stateline
As the nationwide push intensifies for police to wear body cameras, states and cities have encountered one consistent roadblock to adopting the technology: the cost.
The price of a single camera ranges widely, from less than $100 to more than $1,000, based on the size of the purchase (larger police departments often get a discount) and whether the deal includes data storage services. But managing and storing the video costs many times the price of the cameras themselves. And because the technology is so new, it's likely that it will have to be replaced fairly quickly, which would require additional expenditures.
In a survey of 40 police departments by the Police Executive Research Forum conducted last fall and released this year, nearly 40 percent of departments without body cameras cited cost as the primary barrier to using them.
President Barack Obama has called for $75 million in new federal spending to help pay for 50,000 police body cameras for local police departments. States are struggling with whether cameras should be worn all the time and whether the video should be a public record, which also can affect costs. As of April 20, 34 states were considering 117 bills related to police body cameras, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). So far, only a handful of states have figured out how to pay for them.
"They (cameras) can be a really great tool if implemented correctly," said Lindsay Miller, a senior research associate at the police forum, a membership organization of police and government officials, academics and others who work in the field. "It's not as easy as sticking a camera on an officer and sending them out in the field."
Put simply, Miller said, "The money has to come from somewhere."
Funding With Fines
In New Jersey, legislation enacted last fall requires officers or the vehicles they routinely use in traffic stops to have cameras, either on the officer or on the dashboard in the car.
Giving local governments the option — body camera or dashboard camera — was a compromise to help pass the bill, said Democratic Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, who sponsored the legislation. The measure only applies to newly acquired vehicles, and it exempts officers who work in administrative roles or detectives who don't regularly conduct traffic stops.
The most significant part of the compromise, however, is the funding mechanism: The legislation levies a $25 surcharge on convicted drunken drivers, a fine that stays in the municipality where the offense occurred. That funding can go toward purchasing cameras or data storage and other expenses that make having police cameras "workable," Moriarty said.
"We have a problem here with the state mandating something and not coming up with some way to pay for it," he said. "Some of these larger cities, they're strapped for cash — and some of the smaller ones too."
Finding Funds Elsewhere
Lawmakers in some other states are trying a more straightforward approach. They are calling for state money to help pay for a technology they see as a necessity, and one for which the public and local police departments are clamoring.
A measure advancing in Texas, for instance, would dedicate $50 million in state money to implement a requirement that officers across the state wear cameras. Several body camera bills have gained bipartisan support in Austin; one already has cleared the Senate, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled his support for body camera legislation this session.
Democratic Rep. Ron Reynolds, who is pushing the $50 million measure, said finding the money to support body camera requirements was just as important as the requirement itself.
"If there’s no funding, then it's nothing more than an unfunded mandated; it's nothing more than a noble idea," Reynolds said. "A lot of these municipalities, they don't have the revenue to do it, they’re barely getting by now, they have to make it based on lean budgets."
Reynolds admits his bill could change as the session winds toward its June adjournment, but he is optimistic the state will provide at least some money to pay for body cameras.
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