EASTHAMPTON — An award of $16,204.87 from the state’s Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Program will allow the city Police Department to expand its existing body-worn camera supply and related infrastructure, which will enable it to outfit all officers with bodycams for smoother daily operations.

“We have one or two extra body cameras that part-time officers would have assigned to them at the beginning of the shift,” said Sergeant Chad Alexander. “Now we’ll be able to have cameras assigned to every member of the department.”

Alexander said that body-worn cameras have been well received throughout the community, as they increase “accountability” and “transparency.” With the acquisition of additional cameras and related equipment, he believes it will be easier to sort through and file footage, while also eliminating the need to re-assign some cameras to different officers each shift.

Currently, when an officer starts a shift with a shared camera, they must assign that camera to themselves in the computer system so it is associated with their shift and identification credentials. With a camera assigned to each officer individually, the equipment will already be associated with a given officer at the beginning of each shift.

“It’s going to make it easier and more streamlined for our officers now that everybody’s going to have one,” said Alexander. “Even part-time officers will have cameras assigned to them.”

The grant will also enable the department to secure more on-site storage for footage captured on the cameras, which Alexander expects to expedite the process of parsing through footage when needed, such as in the event of a criminal case or trial.

“We’re going to be able to buy an extra docking station, which is where the footage is uploaded,” he explained.

This grant funding comes to the department as part of a roughly $3 million package distributed to 32 local police departments statewide. The state-funded Law Enforcement Body-Worn Camera Program is managed by the Office of Grants and Research, a state agency under the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Since 2021, the program has made more than $13.2 million available to municipal law enforcement departments to increase transparency and bolster police relationships with their communities.

“We’re big fans of our body cameras,” said Alexander. “They’ve been a great tool and asset for our officers to use on a daily basis.”

According to Alexander, the department will likely be placing the order for the new equipment “shortly,” and expects to have it on hand and implemented by early fall.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.