HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (WCBS 880) – Body cameras will be deployed to 1,600 Suffolk County Police Department officers as part of a deal on police reform announced Wednesday.
“This plan makes clear that we can keep our streets safe and have real accountability,” County Executive Steve Bellone said at an event in Hauppauge.
Bellone said the agreement would enable full implementation of some of the largest reform initiatives in the plan, including the bodycams.
The Suffolk County PBA agreed that its members will wear the cameras, although there is still no deal with the other unions. Currently, a limited number of county officers wear bodycams as part of a pilot program.
PBA President Noel DiGerolamo believes reaching the agreement was a valuable process.
“Most of the issues that we discussed we were very much in line. It was just being viewed in a different perspective,” DiGerolamo said.
The bodycams will cost $24 million, and officers will be paid $3,000 a year to wear them.
Patrol cops will start using the cameras early next year. The question remains about how and when video from the cameras will be released. Bellone said that police brass will decide.
“They will be laying out the specific policies and procedures regarding body-worn cameras. We will be implementing what we believe to be best practices in the country,” Bellone said.
The 1,000-page Police Reform and Reinvention Plan was approved by the Suffolk County Legislature in March.
The plan also includes an overhaul of the department’s mental health crisis response, as well as enhanced civilian oversight of the police department, with the independent Human Rights Commission equipped to receive all complaints regarding potential police misconduct starting in 2022.
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