The city of alexandria, louisiana currently has body cameras for front line police officers

The City of Alexandria, Louisiana was awarded a $276,000 Project Grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Congressionally Recommended Awards program (CFDA 16.753). The grant will fund the replacement of body-worn cameras for front-line police officers in Alexandria, whose current cameras are reaching the end of their service life. The new cameras will have dual batteries to ensure coverage for a full 12-hour shift plus up to 4 additional hours as needed, providing a fully-functioning body camera for every budgeted police officer position. Given increased scrutiny of law enforcement, the cameras will reliably and accurately record officer interactions with the public. The goal is to maintain state-of-the-art equipment that supports the police department's recruitment efforts by demonstrating officers' actions will be properly documented. The grant period runs from March 15, 2022 through September 30, 2023.

The cameras are about to reach end of service life and need to be replaced with current technology. The proposed new cameras will have two batteries and ensure coverage time for a full 12-hour shift with up to 4 hours of additional time when needed. This would result in a full complement of cameras for every budgeted position. In light of the heightened scrutiny of the actions of law enforcement officers, IT is critical that the body cameras in use are state-of-the art to be able to reliably and accurately record the interactions of our police officers. The goal of this project is to ensure that all alexandria police officers have fully functioning body cameras with sufficient battery life to cover a full shift and some extended periods. Like many cities across louisiana, alexandria has been significantly impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, hurricanes laura and delta and an EF3 tornado in december 2019. Currently we are experiencing a shortage of police officers having state-of-the-art equipment, particularly body cameras, would aid in our recruitment efforts as officers would feel more comfortable working for the alexandria police department knowing that their interactions with the public will be accurately and reliably recorded.