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Phoenix Police Increases Deployment of Body Cameras to Officers

The Phoenix Police Department says more of its officers now have body cameras.

The department says its initial deployment of 56 cameras later increased to 150 cameras and last month doubled to 300 cameras, including at least some officers in all seven precincts.

Police Chief Jeri Williams says the expansion of the program will continue with the deployment of additional cameras, a step which she describes as “increasing our legitimacy in our community.”


The department’s camera program began in 2013 and the department says it’s working to equip all of its first-responder officers in the next three to five years.

Sergeant Kevin Johnson stated that the “Body Worn Camera Unit” was initially created to manage the existing body camera program that was operating in the Maryvale Precinct and is currently preparing for future expansion of the program.

In 2013, the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, SMART Policing Initiative (SPI) grant was issued to evaluate the effectiveness of the body worn camera technology.

The SPI focused on six principal areas surrounding the Phoenix Police Department’s use of the body cameras: 1) officer camera activation compliance; 2) utility and use of body worn cameras; 3) impact on officer’s’ job performance; 4) impact on public compliance and cooperation; 5) impact on officer accountability; and 6) impact on domestic violence case processing and outcomes.

Primary results include the following:

Findings suggest that when officers wear body cameras they may increase their productivity, reduce the number of complaints against officers, decrease the number of founded complaints against officers, and increase the effectiveness in which criminal cases are processed in the courts.

However, some officers indicated that there was resistance among officers to wear the body worn cameras. While the technology was found to be comfortable and easy to wear in general, officers were not satisfied with the number of technological features claiming it took them longer to complete their reports. Officers were also concerned that video may be be used against them. Officers showed a fairly low compliance rate when asked to turn the cameras on. 

Overall the cameras were found to be costly but beneficial by increasing the number of arrests and decreasing the number of founded complaints against officers.