All Lansdale Police Officers Begin Wearing Body Cameras

LANSDALE, PA — As 2021 begins and communities look to improve trust between residents and law enforcement, the Lansdale Police Department has announced they will now require all police officers to wear body cameras.

The initiative was passed by Borough Council back in Aug. 20, following a summer of tensions over police accountability nationwide. Officials hope the cameras provide greater transparency to the public.

"Policing works when communities trust in their police; trust comes from being transparent in everything we do and accountable when mistakes are made," the police department said in a statement. "To that end, we believe the BWC program at LPD is not about technology but about building and keeping the public’s trust; When people trust one another, they cooperate."

A few other municipalities around the region have moved to pass similar measures in recent months, like Bensalem. Police departments in Delaware County received $1.8 million in grants in December in part for body-camera initiatives. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office rolled out cameras for most deputies back in 2018.

But no program is in place at the state level, unlike many other parts of the nation. New Jersey passed a law mandating it for all law enforcement statewide in November. Pennsylvania funded a pilot program for the State Police back in 2017, but there is no state initiative; a 2019 WHYY investigation found that most police departments want to implement body camera programs but lack the funding.

Lansdale Police acknowledged "mixed opinions" existed on the efficacy of body cameras, but said they had no doubts that it would "provide another level of accountability to the community we serve."

The borough allocated funding to purchase 28 of the WatchGuard cameras, related supporting equipment, and a cloud-based server to store data.

The program formally began on Jan. 1.