Dearborn, Detroit Cop Shops Getting Share of $32M for Body Cams

President Obama plans to invest $75 million over three years to eqiup police departments with body-worn cameras. (Photo via Creative Commons)

» Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

By BRENDAN KRISEL (Patch Staff)

Police departments in Dearborn and Detroit were among 73 receiving more than $23.2 million in a federal grant program to equip more offices with body-worn cameras, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Dearborn will receive $59,571, while Detroit gets a $1 million grant. Police departments in 32 states received grants under President Obama’s Body-Worn Camera Pilot Implementation Program to invest $75 million for the cameras over the next three years to increase police accountability.

Since the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, and the resulting confusion over what actually occurred that day, cameras have been offered as one solution to increase police transparency. A body-worn camera helped indict University of Cincinnati officer Ray Tensing in the July shooting of Sam DuBose during a routine traffic-stop.

“Body-worn cameras hold tremendous promise for enhancing transparency, promoting accountability, and advancing public safety for law enforcement officers and the communities they serve,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in the press release.

Money awarded to the departments, announced on Monday, will go mostly toward the cameras themselves. About $2 million will go to training and $1.9 million to research camera implementation in Miami, Milwaukee and Phoenix.

When the program’s creation was announced in May, the justice department had planned on awarding only $20 million to 50 agencies. During the selection process, 285 grant applications were submitted, the majority by smaller police agencies, according to a fact sheet provided in the press release. The justice department will also provide an online toolkit for police agencies offering advice on how to best implement new body-worn cameras.

A full list of grants awarded can be found here.

Also on Patch

• ‘The Good Cop’ Website Takes On ‘The Internet Mob’
• Top Cops Propose Accountability, But Seek Limits on Body-Cam Video
• Michigan Biz Hears Cha-Ching in Call for Police Body Cams