Salinas City Council approves purchase of body cams

On Tuesday, Salinas City Council has approved the purchase of body cameras for the police department. The department will buy 70 cameras at the cost of $388,000 over the next five years.

According to a Salinas police commander, the lightweight cameras would be worn on the front of an officer’s body. The cameras would record both video and sound, which would be used like evidence and included in a police report.

Now that the council approved the recommendation, the department will begin to buy the cameras.

“We’ll be able to purchase them quickly, then it’s just getting the cameras physically here and doing the training for the officers. So I’m guessing it could take a month or two,” Commander Mike Groves said.

Some other local agencies using body cameras include police in Gilroy and Greenfield.