Expand / Collapse search
☰

Pennsylvania state troopers begin wearing body cameras

Published  June 19, 2018 10:30am EDT
U.S.
FOX 29 Philadelphia

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The Pennsylvania State Police says troopers are now wearing body cameras in a pilot program that's to last through the end of 2018.

Acting Commissioner Robert Evanchick said Tuesday that patrol troopers in Troop B in Uniontown, Troop J in Avondale and Troop T in Somerset are trained and wearing the cameras on duty.

Evanchick says the program will help the department ensure it is prepared for wider use of the cameras.

The Pennsylvania State Police received a $52,000 federal grant to buy about 30 of the cameras. The department is using them under an interim policy that it is making public.

A 2017 Pennsylvania state law exempts police audio and video recordings from the state's Right-to-Know Law, leaving the release of those records largely to the discretion of police.