Los Angeles’ much-touted plan to equip thousands of police officers with body cameras has stalled amid controversy at City Hall over the program’s price tag and whether the Police Department got the best deal possible. Delays have derailed Mayor Eric Garcetti’s pledge to provide nearly every officer with a camera by the end of this year, an ambitious proposal that garnered national attention and would make the LAPD the largest law enforcement agency in the country to use the devices on a widespread scale. LAPD officials do not expect to finish outfitting 7,000 officers until the fall of 2017 at the earliest. And a new proposal, they say, could push the completion date back another year.
The head of the council’s public safety committee now wants the LAPD to start over and accept new bids from camera manufacturers. “This is too big to get wrong,” said Councilman Mitch Englander, who said he plans to introduce a formal proposal. “It’s more important that we get it right and not just do it quickly.”
Despite the initial fanfare, the camera plan came under scrutiny at City Hall over its costs — $57.6 million over five years — with one council member saying he was experiencing “sticker shock.” In addition, competing technology companies complained they were unfairly left out of the LAPD’s selection process, which relied in part on a separate search for body cameras for the much smaller Kern County Sheriff’s Department.
Body cameras have been hailed as a key tool for improving oversight of officers and building community trust in police. Garcetti unveiled his initiative in late 2014 following nationwide protests over the way police officers use force, particularly against African Americans. Three of Garcetti’s appointees on the Board of Police Commissioners voiced alarm about Englander’s proposal, saying the LAPD had already followed proper contracting procedures and found the best product at a good price.
