Troy Police body camera program remains at a standstill
TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Over a year ago, Mayor Patrick Madden announced that the Troy Police Department would launch a body camera pilot program. But, despite the calls for reform, the program remains at a gridlock.
The city of Troy was awarded the funding for the cameras in 2018. More police departments have been turning to body cameras, both to protect themselves and the public, when they’re out on the beat.
Troy Police Chief Brian Owens says it now lies in the hands of the city.
“The latest step that we are at is the labor turning from the city and the labor turning from the unions. So that is the stage we are at now. We have also narrowed it down to possible vendors for selection of the body cameras,” said Owens.
However, the question still remains when it will all be completed. Mayor Madden says he couldn’t give an exact timeline on when the cameras will be rolled out, but he said the city is getting very close.
“We made some progress, and we are working through details with the PBA. I hope that we can wrap it up soon,” said Madden.
“The time to implement the body cameras from when that final decision is made is probably a couple of months. At this job, I’m learning that sometimes you think things will go smoothly and happen fast, but sometimes they take a lot of time,” said Owens.
Nicholas Laviano is the president of the Troy Police Benevolent Association. In a recent Facebook post, he says if a civilian review board can be done right, body cameras could be a useful tool for police officers and the community to get the whole story from start to finish.
Laviano says the city and PBA have been working diligently on the program and there is still more work to be done on both sides.
Troy City Council President Carmella Montello says with everything happening in the country in the last two weeks, the program is more crucial now than ever.
“With over 11,000 people marching for a rally in Troy the last week, now more people are saying okay we need body cams,” said Montello.
Montello says the clock is ticking, and the city needs to act fast.
“Now it’s time to move forward to implement the program and have body cameras here in the city of Troy,” said Montello.
Chief Owens says the department has been consulting with police in Albany and Schenectady to see how their programs have been going. He says they will use them as resources and turn to them for questions moving forward.