STONINGTON POLICE OFFICERS TESTING BODY CAMERAS

Stonington — Three officers are wearing body cameras as the police department prepares to request that funding for both cruiser and body cameras be included in the proposed 2021-22 capital improvement budget.

Last year, the department asked for funding for cruiser cameras but the Board of Finance, dealing with an expected revenue shortfall and budget increases, cut the allocation.

But the state’s new police accountability law, passed this summer in the wake of protests over the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, requires municipalities to use both types of cameras.

Capt. Todd Olson said the department returned to Axon, the company it had been talking with about the cruiser cameras, and began the process of obtaining the equipment once the funding becomes available in July 2021. In the meantime, Axon provided the department with several cameras that it could test so it could design the system it will need.

Because the cameras are being required by state law, they would have a highest priority in the proposed budget and it would be unlikely the Board of Finance would cut the funding.

Olson said that in addition to the officers testing the cameras, the department is working on infrastructure, storage, redaction and other issues. He said the officers volunteered to wear the cameras and began using them about a month ago.

Olson said the cost of the cameras is $500,000 split over five years. State funding may be available to offset some of the cost.

Stonington is among the municipalities across the region that have either deployed cameras or are in the process of acquiring them.