JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams on Wednesday said his agency's body camera pilot program "is going great."
Thirty police officers began wearing body cameras last month. The officers included in the 90-day technical pilot program are spread across the city's six patrol and enforcement zones.
Recommended Videos
This test of the Axon body cameras is the first of three planned trials and evaluations.
Williams said the cameras are easy to use and the officers have acclimated to them well.
"Again, it is going well. We are already a month in, and we have lots of videos as you can imagine. We have gotten an interesting response from the community," Williams said. "We are learning more and more about it every day. All of that will impact the program at the end."
Last week, the state Public Employees Relations Commission ruled that the JSO can keep its body camera pilot program up and running "as is," but as soon as possible, Williams will have to negotiate with the Fraternal Order of Police on how cameras will be used.
Williams said JSO anticipated that as a possible outcome, and they will be working with the police union on a policy.
"I would imagine around October, the labor contract opens back up and we bargain the elements of the policy for the body cameras," the sheriff said. "We have a really solid policy. But again, we are still continuing to take input from the union as well, so we will sit down and bargain it. We will get that taken care of and we will move forward."
Williams is budgeting $1.3 million in his 2017-18 budget to fund the cameras, storage of the video and management of the system.