NYPD Body Camera Rollout Pushed Back After Explosion

NEW YORK — The NYPD has pushed back its target date for outfitting all patrol cops with body cameras following a recent recall, police officials said Tuesday. Some 23,000 police officers, lieutenants and sergeants will have the cameras by the end of February, Deputy Commissioner for Information Technology Jessica Tisch told reporters.

The NYPD initially planned to have all patrol cops wearing cameras by the end of this year. But the department took nearly 3,000 Vievu LE-5 model cameras off the streets after one exploded on Staten Island about two weeks ago.

The NYPD has so far replaced those cameras with Vievu's LE-4 model in three of the 18 commands that had used the other model, Tisch said, and the rest will be replenished by the end of this year.

The 19 commands that have never had cameras will get the Body 2 model made by Axon, which acquired Vievu in May, Tisch said. The NYPD is working to set up the Axon evidence management system, which is different from the Vievu system, she said.

"It’s not ideal to operate a hybrid solution," Tisch said, but in the end the Police Department will have "Axon cameras at the Vievu prices." Vievu's initial $6.4 million bid for 5,000 cameras was a third of the price of Axon's, Tisch said.

Body cameras will eventually go to all precincts, transit districts and police service areas, officials said. The NYPD plans to distribute another 4,000 cameras to specialized commands such as the Strategic Response Group and the Critical Response Command, Tisch said.

The NYPD was initially required to test body cameras under a 2013 court order that said the department's stop-and-frisk practices violated constitutional rights.

(Lead image: An NYPD sergeant demonstrates a body camera at a 2014 press conference. Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)