MPD Gets Grant for Body Cameras Share

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The Mar­i­on Police Depart­ment has been award­ed a grant sav­ing the City over a third of the cost for body cam­eras for all police offi­cers. The U.S. Depart­ment of Jus­tice award­ed the City of Mar­i­on Police Depart­ment $130,000 to defray the over­all cost of $370,000 for the body cameras. 

Capt. Steve Scott had been tend­ing grants through the Depart­ment of Jus­tice, which already pro­vides half the fund­ing for MPD’s bul­let-proof vests each year, and dis­cov­ered the grant oppor­tu­ni­ty for body cam­eras. His research was a cul­mi­na­tion of MPD and City administration’s years of study­ing body cam­era imple­men­ta­tion and eval­u­at­ing best prod­ucts. Capt. Scott then wrote an appli­ca­tion for the grant which he described as very com­pet­i­tive and challenging. 

Scott explained that with body cam­eras MPD can record evi­dence and uti­lize them in any pub­lic con­tact, whether reac­tive or proac­tive. The cam­eras record HD video and audio. 

MPD will go before the Board of Pub­lic Works & Safe­ty on Mon­day, Octo­ber 28^th to final­ize imple­men­ta­tion of the body cam­era pur­chase pro­gram. The remain­ing bal­ance for the cam­eras is intend­ed to be financed through a 5‑year plan.