The Plano City Council Committee of the Whole on Monday approved a proposal to go to the full city council for the purchase of body-worn cameras for the Plano Police Department.
Sgt. Gene Morton told the committee that as part of the SAFE-T Act, all police departments in Illinois are required to have body-worn cameras by 2025.
The proposal is for $38,300 for the first round of body-cams. Morton says that the cameras do help protect officers and the public.
The purchase would be in the budget for the fiscal year that starts in May.
Lt. Norm Allison says the department will possibly have to buy more cameras down the line, depending on how things shake out with the SAFE-T Act.
Allison says that uploading video from the body-cams is fairly automated and doesn't require much effort from officers. Going back through video footage for purposes of privacy if there are FOIAs issued for footage could be more time consuming.