Every Chicago Patrol Officer Equipped With a Body Camera

Every Chicago patrol officer is now equipped with a body-worn camera, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the department announced Sunday.

The expansion of the pilot program launched in 2015 is part of ongoing police reform efforts, and the fulfillment of a commitment made in September 2016.

Sunday’s announcement came more than a year ahead of the originally-scheduled completion of the program’s expansion, Emanuel said in a release.

The last four of the city’s 22 districts to receive cameras were the 5th – Calumet, 12th – Near West, 17th – Albany Park, and 25th – Grand Central.

Chicago now has the largest deployment of body cameras in the country, according to CPD, which previously said the total number of cameras throughout the department would reach 7,000. 

Body cameras are part of a larger reform effort to make the Chicago Police Department more accountable on the heels of high-profile police-involved shootings, as well as a scathing review of CPD’s practices by the Department of Justice under former President Obama.

Other initiatives include de-escalation training and creating the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, a new system to replace the beleaguered Independent Police Review Authority.

City officials previously said the expansion of body cameras would cost roughly $8 million, financed through city funding and grants. 

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