Some Mass. Police Officers Already Sold On Use Of Body Cameras

BOSTON (CBS) – Since the protests in Ferguson there's been a lot of talk about having police officers wear body cameras so their words and actions are recorded.

Here in Massachusetts not everyone is sold on it, but a small number of police cameras have been used for a year by the Essex County Sheriff's Department, and they're sold on the technology.

Eighteen officers in the K-9 unit use the cameras that are mounted on eyeglasses and powered by a small battery.

"It deescalates situations. I think that's a key thing, and it promotes officer safety," said Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins, who invested in the cameras about a year ago.

"It's a real good tool from that standpoint, to just talk about the facts, exactly what happened, how many times the officer gave a verbal command to stop," Cousins said.

During a training drill on Wednesday, police gave WBZ a close up look of how the technology works.

The officer turns the camera on, warns the suspect that both audio and video are being recorded and the subsequent arrest is captured by the camera. The video is downloaded and is available for law enforcement to study.

"It eliminates any of the 'should he use force, shouldn't he use force, did he follow policy,'" said Cousins.

The department will expand the use of cameras, adding 35 in coming months. They each cost $1,000.

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