The New Bern police department budgeted $190,000 worth of new body cams for officers and signed the contract earlier in July, but the body cams have not gone underway just yet.
According to Lt. Donald McInnis of NBPD, there will be 90 body cams used from that $190,000 budget and that s just for this year s payment. The equipment has not been received as of now by McInnis or the police department, but the budget was accumulated over the course of five years before the contract was signed in July. The goal is to have them distributed to the patrol officers and officers who are mainly going to be interacting with citizens, McInnis said. Some of those cameras will also be distributed to our various specialized units as well.