Los Angeles to Fund Police Body Camera Program but Council Wants Review of Selection Process

The Los Angeles City Council agreed Tuesday to fund LAPD's body camera deployment. However, at least one councilman is requesting a formal review of the process to determine whether the Police Department selected the best product at the best price.

Councilman Mitch Englander's motion took a step back from his call last week for the LAPD to restart the vendor selection process and accept new bids.

That proposal prompted an awkward back-and-forth between Englander and other city officials, including the mayor and police commissioners, who said they feared a new bidding process would push the completed rollout of the 7,000 cameras back at least another year — a delay Mayor Eric Garcetti called "unacceptable."

Instead, Englander's motion calls for the Police Department and other city agencies to look at other large contracts for cameras by departments around the country to determine whether the LAPD used the best process to select its camera vendor. The motion also seeks a review of the body camera market as well as an analysis of how much the cameras could save the city in costly police-related litigation or investigations of complaints against officers.

Englander said his goal was to formally answer outstanding questions from his fellow council members, who he worried might reject the body camera initiative, the Los Angeles Times reports.