KC mayor to propose budget increase for police. Will KCPD finally buy body cameras?
The estimated cost to equip Kansas City police officers with body cameras is $2.5 million. That would cover the hardware and the space needed for storage, police say.
Mayor Quinton Lucas will detail a budget proposal Wednesday that includes a 4% increase from the department’s roughly $255 million budget last fiscal year. If approved by the City Council, the funding increase would total about $10.2 million.
After years of delays and excuses, the Kansas City Police Department should use the extra funds to finally purchase body cameras for all of its officers.
“I think it’s clear that this council and mayor have some interest in seeing the body cams,” Lucas said this week. “We got a funding request from the department. I think we’ve largely satisfied it. I would hope that they see in our new funding that there is an opportunity for body cameras.”
One day after police heroically subdued an impaired driver along the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade route, Kansas City police officers shot and killed a man armed with a rifle.
An official inquiry will determine if the shooting was justified. But it wasn’t the first time Kansas City officers have fatally shot a suspect. And it won’t be the last.
The most recent deadly altercation was not captured on body cameras because officers are not equipped with them. That must change.
The department is one of the largest in the region without the technology. And it’s inexcusable that several smaller police departments in the area, including Shawnee and Lenexa, have body cameras, and Kansas City police do not.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office have body cameras as well.
Kansas City police officials say a vendor has been selected. The department has not secured funding, they say. But with a budget increase likely, the department must make the cameras a priority.
Body cameras, while not foolproof, can improve public trust in law enforcement because they provide video confirmation that officers followed procedure in emergency situations.
But the cameras can also identify bad actors on both sides of the law.
Body cameras can strengthen police accountability by documenting incidents and capturing encounters between officers and the public on video, according to the Police Executive Research Forum.
The technology can also help de-escalate situations by improving officer professionalism — and the behavior of the people being recorded. Cameras can aid in resolving questions about officer-involved incidents and complaints by providing a more accurate record of events.
Body cameras were submitted with the department’s 2020-21 budget request, said Nathan Garrett, president of the Kansas City Police Board of Commissioners, which oversees the department.
“We want the cameras and firmly believe our officers will net a benefit from having them — both in terms of outcomes and public confidence,” he said.
Police officials contend the challenge is funding — both for the cameras and, most critically, the media storage.
“The storage requirements for a department of our size are draconian, and will cost several million dollars a year,” Garrett said. “And as is ordinarily the case, that money has to come from somewhere — and something.”
With a proposed budget increase of more than $10 million, the mayor has addressed that recurring excuse.
It’s time for the Kansas City Police Department to do more than just pay lip service to the importance of body cameras and actually purchase them.