Detroit Police Begin 60-Day Body Camera Trial

DETROIT (WWJ) -- Friday marked the start of a 60-day trial period for body-worn cameras within the Detroit Police Department.

Fifty cameras are being made available to officers in the city's 4th and 7th Precincts. If all goes as planned, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said a full rollout of 1500 body cameras will follow in the fall.

"We believe that once we have the full integration of this technology we can potentially be the first agency -- large-city police department -- that has integration between in-car and body-worn [cameras]," Craig said.

In addition to providing greater public confidence, Craig says the use of body cameras will also protect officers on the street from potential false allegations.

"Certainly it gives the community a sense of security, but it also gives our officers a sense of security," Craig said. "We have great relationships with our community, this is just an enhancement to that."

Craig said that the cameras will help the department remain transparent. He said officers were recently vindicated thanks to cameras that caught a recent incident on video.

"Officers were transporting a female prisoner who made false allegations of being sexually assaulted and the camera caught the entire contact," Craig said. "So, in this instance it worked and that's what we want."

No bigger than a tube of lipstick, the cameras are meant to record an officer's-eye view at all times. The department started testing the body cameras late last year.

In March, the program was extended to 20 officers in the 11th Precinct.

President Barack Obama has promoted the use of body cameras by police after last year's shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.