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ATLANTA - Atlanta Police Department Sgt. C. Myers demonstrated the device which will serve as an electronic eye recording officers’ interaction with the public.
"For example if I hit the start record button this is what they'll start seeing," said Sgt. C. Myers.
Officers who patrol the city's zone 4 neighborhoods will be the first equipped with body cameras
FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes spoke with Atlanta Police Chief George Turner about the new cameras:
Deidra: "Chief why zone 4?"
Chief Turner: "We think it's a cross section of our community and gives us an opportunity to deal with all of the challenges we have in this precinct pretty high crime area but at the same time we want to make sure the interactions with our citizens that we record those and make sure we are doing the right thing with this product in one of our largest geographical precincts."
After a 6-month test run, the chief expects to move forward with plans to make the body camera standard issue department wide.
"To activate it is very simple it's one tap of the button and for the officer he will feel the feedback he'll feel the vibration he'll hear the tone and if I look down I can see an icon let me know it's recording," said an officer.
NPU Zone 4 Chair Kathy Crawford will be taking a “wait and see” attitude after the presentation. She wants to see the body cameras in action.
"I tend to want to reserve my final thoughts until it's actually implemented and then I can better respond to it. I think it’s a good idea though. It will protect the police as well as the community,” said Crawford.