WEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) — Officers at the Miami-Dade Police Department are getting ready to record while on duty with a new addition to the uniforms.
A select group of Miami-Dade Police officers will be using body cameras while on duty, Tuesday. "We’re actually deploying the first batch of cameras," said Miami-Dade Police Captain Gustavo Duarte."Besides the transparency, everybody is gonna be able to see what we do, ’cause most people don’t see really what we do."
The Miami-Dade Police Department has a $5.5 million plan to begin using 1,000 cameras at the end of the year.
Tuesday was the first time the officers got their hands on the new devices. The new body cameras have the capability to be streamed over a cellphone.
Police body cameras have become increasingly popular across the country following several deadly incidents and shootings involving police officers. The MDPD hopes the cameras will cut down on complaints against officers and show an unbiased perspective of police while they are on the job. "The message we’ve been saying all along, all my 30 years: We have nothing to hide," Duarte said. "We basically react to circumstances people put us on. We don’t go out and do anything out of the ordinary. We just do our job."
The department hopes to have more cameras in use by the end of September.