Photo by Abby Hoover
The Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) plans to order 475 additional body-worn cameras for its patrol officers, said Kansas City Police spokesman Sergeant Jacob Becchina at a Wednesday morning press conference outside of Police Headquarters.
The police department, who currently has 340 patrol officers equipped with body cameras, would be able to outfit the entirety of its patrol divisions with the 475 additional cameras. Currently, patrol officers in the Central, North and Shoal Creek are equipped with body cameras, Becchina said.
“You have that third person that’s there,” Officer Oasha White said. “Usually it’s your side, the citizen’s side, and then you have the unknown, but now that we have the body cameras there with us all the time, there won’t be that unknown.
The Board of Police Commissioners’ on Tuesday approved buying the additional cameras.
“The body worn camera system was something that our community asked for,” Becchina said. “It was something we heard them over and over again saying they wanted. It was a priority for us. We just lacked a funding source.”
In June, Kansas City received a $1 million donation from the DeBruce Foundation, and another $1.5 million from other groups to fund a body camera program.
Policies for how the videos will be stored and used, and for such things as when the cameras should be turned on, are being drafted now. The policies are expected to be presented to the board of police commissioners next month, Becchina said, The Kansas City Star reported.
New, free online tool connects students to scholarships
A new free online tool helps high school students find college scholarships in their area.
and last updated 2020-12-11 10:11:21-05
KANSAS CITY, Mo. â College is expensive and sometimes it can be difficult knowing where to start to help pay for it.
But a new online tool is working to ease some of that stress.
My Scholarship Central is a free online website that connects students to more than 50 scholarship providers right in their area.
It s a one-stop scholarship stop, allowing students to review the application criteria and apply directly with the scholarship providers.