Fully equipping Wichita police with body cameras is delayed
The Wichita Police Department said Monday it won’t meet its goal of equipping every field officer with a body camera by the end of the year because federal funding isn’t yet available to complete the job.
Interim Police Chief Nelson Mosley said he expects the funds will be available next month.
“Once the funding is available, we can move forward with purchasing the remaining cameras,” Mosley said in a statement.
The department has bought 212 body-worn cameras for Patrol North and Patrol East substations, and those cameras are fully implemented, the department said.
The agency plans to buy total of 429 body cameras.
In September, the city learned that it would receive $250,000 in federal matching funds for its body camera program.
To receive funding, the department had to submit of a body-camera policy and financial documents, and it met the requirements and has been waiting for federal funding, the agency said.
Tim Potter: 316-268-6684, @terporter
This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Fully equipping Wichita police with body cameras is delayed."