Winter Park police start using body cameras

The Winter Park Police Department, one of just a few agencies in Central Florida that didn’t use body-worn cameras, quietly ordered six officers to begin wearing them June 5, just 11 days after the death of George Floyd intensified national scrutiny on police practices.

Chief Michael Deal said the death of the Minneapolis man in police custody caught on a bystander’s video prompted him to accelerate putting the body cameras out in the field.

“My officers are looking forward to wearing the body cameras which will help show the overall professionalism and unbiased behavior of our police officers,” Deal said in an email.

The department requested to buy 62 cameras in the fall, but getting them out in the field is taking time, he said.

Choosing a camera system that fit within the $92,000 budget required several weeks of testing different models. Shipping was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Camera vendors couldn’t travel and the need for social distancing made it impractical to train officers in large groups, he said.

The plan was to give all officers