AKRON, Ohio — Akron Mayor Shammas Malik plans to introduce legislation that would clear the way for the purchase of new body-worn cameras for the Akron Police Department's SWAT officers as well as the uniformed officers of the Street Narcotics Uniform Detail (SNUD) units.
The legislation will have its first reading during Monday night's Akron City Council meeting.
According to the city, the SWAT and SNUD units have not previously been equipped with body cameras.
“The legislation is a further step in our commitment to increasing trust between our community and our law enforcement officers,” said Malik in a statement. “These units do important and necessary work in our community and outfitting them with body-worn cameras helps ensure transparency.”
The city says the plan to purchase additional body cameras comes as a result of the report of the Racial Equity Social Justice Taskforce (RESJ), which "recommended various reforms across the city and included a recommendation for SWAT officers to be equipped with body-worn cameras."
“The Akron Police Department supports the use of body-worn cameras for our SWAT and uniformed SNUD officers to help better protect our residents and our officers,” added Akron Police Chief Brian Harding. “This is an important update and responds directly to a recommendation from the City’s Racial Equity Social Justice Taskforce. We plan to train the uniformed officers in these units in the coming months to ensure a seamless transition with the new equipment when it arrives.”
The legislation calls for the city to enter into a three-year agreement with Axon at a cost of $122,183.
"The Akron Police Department and city law department are already working on updates to the body-worn camera policy to properly protect confidential informants and undercover officers as part of this change. Once the equipment is received and policy updated, these uniformed units will be outfitted immediately with the cameras, which may be as early as the end of this year," the city added in its release.
