APD chief estimates police force to be equipped with body cams by early 2024

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Anchorage Police Department reported that negotiations are ongoing for the purchase of body cameras Wednesday during the Assembly Public Safety Committee meeting.

Chief of Police Michael Kerle estimates that they will have a fully equipped staff by either the end of the year or early 2024.

Once the contract for the cameras is wrapped up it will go to the Anchorage Assembly to vote on.

From there, the department said, the first shipment will only consist of 30 cameras, or enough to cover 13% of the current 392 sworn officers.

“I think it’s been a little late. I think most people know that. But it is good news that we are rolling them out. And I look forward to the Assembly helping to craft a framework for continuing to maintain the public’s trust around that issue,” Anchorage Assembly member George Martinez said.

According to police, before they can order a full shipment, a few things have to be worked out. One issue with be understanding how much manpower is needed to review and process the video.

“We’ll work out the bugs for the first couple of months. And we are already talking to the vendor. There is, as you can tell, everyone across the country is trying to get body-worn cameras. We foresee, that when cameras become available, a couple weeks or months after we get the initial 30, that by the time they roll in, we’ll have the bugs worked out,” Kerle said during Wednesday’s meeting.

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