TULSA - The Tulsa Police Department plans to have all of its roughly 300 field officers wearing body cameras by the end of 2017.
The department expects the cameras will be like many around the country where the officers will have to activate them before they start recording. However, the cameras record 30 seconds of silence before the button is pushed.
Tulsa Police Department Intelligence and Public Information Sergeant Shane Tuell said TPD's IT Department is currently testing body cameras.
Within the next few weeks, the department will have 40 body cameras to test out in the field.
The department received a $600,000 grant it has to match, providing them about $1.2 million to buy the cameras, train officers on them, fit them, etc.
The department said it wishes the process to get the cameras was done in time for Officer Betty Shelby to have one on when she shot and killed Terence Crutcher.
“I wish we would’ve had them sooner, and I think a lot of people wish we would’ve had them sooner. But it is not simply going out and purchasing, throwing them on yourself and you go. Because there’s a lot of infrastructure that goes along with it," Tuell said.
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