BPD to continue to introduce body cams after St. Patrick's Day test

The Buffalo Police Department began their introduction of body cameras on Sunday, March 18th during the Buffalo St. Patrick's Day Parade. This was the beginning of a four month trial period that will see 26 officers wearing body cameras. 

The cameras cost ranges from $400 to $1,000 with the entire system estimated at $1-$1.5 Million. During the trial period BPD will be using two different types of cameras. 

The video that is recorded by the body cameras would be kept on a cloud based storage system. Each video could be kept between 30 days and forever depending on the severity. Any video that is recorded could be submitted as evidence depending on the situation. If it is submitted as evidence, that means that video will not be released to the public. 

"This is an evidence collection device," Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Ronaldo said, "This is no different than a suspect statement, it is no different than collection of a piece of evidence at a scene."

If the four month period proves to be successful, then there is a chance all 500+ Buffalo Police officers could be wearing body cameras.