Three years after police body cameras became a top priority in Nashville, Mayor John Cooper announceda plan Tuesday to deploy44cameras in 2020 to test their impact on the criminal justice system.
The small pilot comesweeks after the cameras were delayed due to questions about their cost. District Attorney Glenn Funk issued a report last week saying full implementation would cost the city more than $36 million per year.
Under the plan, "approximately two dozen" cameras would go to DUI and traffic officers in March. In May, an additional 20 cameras would roll out to patrol officers for three to six months.
The limited rollout will move forward after the police department installs equipment that will allow officers across the city to upload their camera footage wirelessly.
There is no timeline for the full implementation of body cameras department-wide.
Administration officials said the pilot would be an opportunity to fine-tune cost estimates for the cameras. City agencies also needtodevelop policies for how the camerasare used and how their footage is shared among prosecutors, defense attorneys and the public, according to the Cooper administration.
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"I understand and share the community's frustration over the wait," Cooper said in a statement. "Basic questions about how video will be used and shared hadn't been addressed."
Cooper said his team had been working to develop a plan for cameras "as quickly and responsibly as possible" since he took office in September.
"It's important that we get this done, and it's important that we get this right," Cooper said. "This plan puts cameras in the field as soon as the infrastructure is there to support them and allows us to learn what works in the process."
Many cities across the country have turned to body cameras to address allegationsof racial bias among police. In Nashville, calls for body cameras were amplified by the shooting deaths of two black men killed during interactions with white police officers.
Former Mayor Megan Barry committed to funding body cameras in 2016 and included $15 million to buy the cameras and associated equipment in her 2017 spending plan.
Implementation stalled as the mayor's office changed hands three times in two years.
Two body camera pilots came and went.
In 2017, police launched a 20-person pilot to research and develop policies. In 2018, former Mayor David Briley announced 21 officers would wear body cameras for 90 days to test different vendors before a contract was signed.
The city finalized a contract with a camera vendor in August. Police were about to order the cameras in November but stopped because of the city's ongoing budget crisis.
Local advocates have been critical of Barry, Briley and now Cooper for failing to move fast enough on body cameras. But Cooper said the city needs extra time to answer questions previous administrations had not considered.
"The board still finds it troubling that they have offered no plan on a full implementation and appear to be starting from the beginning when years of planning, research and work has previously been done," a statement from the Nashville Community Oversight Board said of Cooper's plan Tuesday evening.
The board was established via a 2018 referendum and is tasked with investigating allegations of police misconduct. Itcan also recommend policy changes for the department.
Concerns over costs, privacy and legal issues are all still being hammered out.
Experts who have worked with the U.S. Department of Justice, and who have guided body camera rollouts in other cities, will advise the mayor's office starting in January, according to Cooper's statement.
The COB also plans to issue a policy advisory soonencouraging a city-widecamera release on a randomized pilot population, a statement indicated.
“Our participation is vital,” stated COB Chair Ashlee Davis. “The COB must be at the table early and often for discussions related to body worn cameras and a full implementation cannot wait any longer.”
Funk used state grant funding to hire consultants who said Nashville's full fleet of body and dash cameras would produceabout 12,960 hours of footage per day. They estimated that about 10% of that total would figure into criminal cases.
The district attorney, public defender and police department have all said they will need to hire new staff members to handle the influx of footage.
Funk's office needs to develop plans for how prosecutors share footage with defense attorneys in criminal cases.
“I appreciate Mayor Cooper taking steps to fulfill our city’s commitment to implement body cameras," Funk said in a statement."I look forward to working together with all agencies in the criminal justice system to provide this new evidence promptly while protecting the rights of victims and witnesses.”
Reach Adam Tamburin at atamburin@tennessean.com or 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.
