Local Funding For Wilmington Police Body-Worn Camera Program Is In Place As City Awaits Word On Federal Assistance

From the City of Wilmington:

October 1, 2020

A Purzycki Administration-sponsored $400,000 budget amendment to the General Fund, which would help cover staffing costs of a new police body-worn camera program, was approved Thursday night by Wilmington City Council. With the local funding now in place for police body cameras, the City is awaiting word as to whether it will receive a half-million-dollar federal grant to support the program. Mayor Mike Purzycki has pledged that should the federal grant be denied, he is committed to asking City Council to appropriate the remaining funding needed for implementation from City assets.

Introduced tonight for Council’s consideration was a contract between the City and Axon Enterprise, Inc., totaling nearly $2 million to cover costs over the next five years for the purchase of body cameras and other equipment and for related services needed to implement and manage the program. The contract will be reviewed by the Council Finance Committee on Monday. Mayor Mike Purzycki and Police Chief Robert J. Tracy have said that once implemented, body cameras will be worn by all Wilmington Police Department (WPD) uniformed personnel. The Mayor and Chief tonight thanked Council Members for supporting the budget amendment and for advocating for police body cameras.

Chief Tracy said police policies that will guide the operation and management of the body camera program, as well as the storage and sharing of video and other administrative requirements, are being developed by the WPD. They will be reviewed by the City’s Law and Human Resources (HR) Departments, shared with the police union—FOP Lodge #1—and then made public. The WPD’s authorized staffing will increase to 319 officers from 315 to provide proper supervision of the new police body camera program.

This press release was produced by the City of Wilmington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.