Shreveport police to be outfitted with 400 body cameras

SHREVEPORT, La. — The Shreveport Police Department has purchased 400 body cameras with the help of a group of concerned business people who formed last summer after the death of George Floyd.

Police in the northern city have had limited use of body cameras over the the last 10 years, KTBS-TV reported. Police Chief Ben Raymond told the station that at one time the city had about 90 of the cameras but those are not all in use right now.

The purchase of the new body cameras and the equipment needed to support them will enable the department to outfit all officers on patrol and those who routinely interact with the public to have the body cameras, local media reported.

“We do hope that by the end of summer, when you speak to a police officer, that video will be recorded.

And that will be a great tool for us, not only for criminal investigations, but as well as administrative investigations,” Raymond told the station.

A group titled Concerned Business People of Shreveport raised about $200,000 to help pay for the cameras. Businessman Roy Griggs told The Times of Shreveport that the cameras alone aren't enough to stop violence but they can hopefully assist in bringing police and the community they serve closer together. KTBS-TV reports that Griggs formed the group last summer after Floyd's death in Minneapolis.

Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted April 20 of murder and manslaughter for pinning Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the Black man’s neck in a case that triggered worldwide protests, and a reexamination of racism and policing in the U.S.