LOWELL — Acting Superintendent Barry Golner is pleased to announce that the Lowell Police Department has been awarded $29,935 in state grant funds allocated by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research (OGR) Body Worn Camera (BWC) grant program.
The Lowell Police Department plans to use the grant funding to launch a small pilot program involving about 30 officers who will be equipped with body worn cameras.
The department has issued a request for proposals as part of efforts to select an equipment vendor, while the city’s Law Department and Lowell Police unions draft and finalize a policy that includes details of how the program will be implemented.
The department continues to seek additional state and federal funding sources to implement a larger program and to purchase additional secure video storage capabilities.
“I want to thank the Baker-Polito administration and the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for this grant funding that will enable us to launch a pilot program aimed at further boosting transparency between the community and Lowell Police,” said Acting Superintendent Golner. “Maintaining a trusting relationship with the Lowell community is a top priority of the Lowell Police Department, and this program will help us strengthen that relationship.”
The Body Worn Cameras (BWC) Grant Program will equip municipal police departments across the Commonwealth with body-worn cameras. Approximately $20 million in funding will be used to purchase 9,000 cameras during the next five years.
The Baker-Polito Administration included funding for this program as part of its Fiscal Year 2022 Capital Budget Plan. The grant application process requires each municipal department to submit a comprehensive deployment plan that describes a deliberate and phased plan to deploy the technology, as well as specific ways the proposed program will enhance the agency’s mission.
President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing placed a priority on body camera research and camera programs. The Task Force’s final report indicated that officers wearing body cameras had “87.5 percent fewer incidents of use of force and 59 percent fewer complaints than the officers not wearing the cameras.”
According to a recent poll by the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, only 10 percent of Massachusetts municipal departments operate a body-worn camera program. However, the same poll indicated that 75 percent of departments in major cities and smaller communities are interested in starting a program.