L.A. takes major step toward putting cameras in police cars

After years of false starts, the Los Angeles Police Department cleared a final hurdle Wednesday in its effort to install video cameras in patrol cars.

The City Council voted unanimously to approve a $5-million contract with IBM -- enough money to put cameras in about 300 cars in the department’s South Bureau. If the technology works as planned and elected officials set aside sufficient funds in coming budgets, it is expected that cars in the LAPD’s three other bureaus will be outfitted in subsequent years. The total project is expected to cost $20 million to $25 million.

Department and city officials have long called for the cameras, saying that they are vital tools for holding police accountable and protecting them against bogus claims of abuse made by people during encounters.

It is also expected that the data gathered by the cameras will help the department fulfill a court-ordered requirement that it guard against racial profiling during traffic stops.

“This is a public policy trifecta,” said Councilman Jack Weiss, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee. “It will protect cops, reduce lawsuit payouts and protect people’s civil rights.”

While other departments across the country have invested in cameras, the saga in Los Angeles stretches back nearly two decades.

Putting cameras in patrol cars was one of the key reforms proposed by the Christopher Commission, which studied the LAPD after the 1991 police beating of Rodney G. King. Early pilot programs were thwarted by funding and technology problems.

Then, last year, the department’s civilian oversight commission selected IBM to carry out the job. But the project stalled for months in City Hall, largely because another company that made a bid was lobbying officials to redo the selection.

Also this week, city officials acknowledged that plans to open two police stations in January hang on whether sufficient funds are earmarked in the city’s upcoming budget to hire support staff and buy furniture.

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