COLUMBUS – This week, a dozen Columbus police traffic officers became the first of the city’s nearly 2,000 officers to wear body cameras.
The officers started wearing the devices on Wednesday, as the first phase of the implementation of the body-worn camera program, which will include the remainder of the Traffic Unit by the end of January, said Mayor Andrew Ginther.
The second phase will outfit the division’s Bicycle Unit after the installation of fiber optic communication lines at police substations at the end of May, Ginther said.
A committee composed of members of the community, academia, the Fraternal Order of Police and support staff from the Department of Safety recommended in June that about 1,400 of the city’s 1,900 officers get the cameras.
Six models from five different vendors were given to 30 officers for a test program beginning on August 30 and that test led to the administration’s decision to select WatchGuard as the camera supplier.