Pa. state police equip 3,000 troopers with body cameras in bid to improve ‘public trust’
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More than 3,000 Pennsylvania State Police patrol troopers are now equipped with body-worn cameras to record interactions with the public, the agency said Thursday.
State police said the effort, which started in the summer of 2023, was completed weeks ahead of schedule and covers patrol troopers at all 89 stations across Pennsylvania.
“Our ability to maintain efficient operations relies heavily on the trust placed in us by the communities we serve,” State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris said in a statement.
“With the completion of our body-worn camera rollout, we aim to strengthen that trust by documenting our public interactions and demonstrating our commitment to transparency, accountability and respectful police services.”
A state police spokesman told PennLive that they do not keep “a running tally” of how many times they have released body-camera footage, either audio or video.
However, communications director Miles Snyder did say that state police have received 80 requests so far this year and 17 have been fulfilled, “most consisting of multiple audio/video recordings.”
Requests for body-camera footage skyrocketed after 2022 when 44 requests were made. The number of requests ballooned to 131 in 2023 and 197 last year, according to data provided by Snyder.
Snyder said the reasons for denying requests ranged from them being “improperly served upon PSP” or “untimely” submitted to the audio/video no longer existing or being “part of an active criminal investigation.”
As far as Thursday’s announcement about troopers getting body cameras, the move was praised by Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Besides body cameras, state police also upgraded mobile video recorders in over 1,400 patrol vehicles.
“Body cameras play an increasingly vital role in law enforcement, helping to preserve critical evidence and foster accountability, ultimately increasing the public’s trust in our officers,” said state Sen. Lisa Baker, a Luzerne County Republican and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, in the state police statement.
Baker said that she looks forward “to working with our law enforcement partners on our legislation to strengthen and consolidate our body-camera authorization laws, ensuring all authorized entities are subject to the same standards, regulations and requirements.”
Allegheny County Democratic Sen. Wayne Fontana said cameras “protect both officers in the line-of-duty and the public. Outfitting our police with the latest and best equipment available to do their job is an effort all Pennsylvanians can support.”
State police said that body cameras help with training and “enhance evidence collection at traffic crash and crime scenes by capturing actions, conditions and statements in real time, which improves the preparation of reports and court testimony.”