MANCHESTER – The Township Council recently applied for a grant to buy body cameras for the police department.
“This is because of the requirement now that they (police officers) have to have body cameras in the police department. It is an application for funding. I believe there is $56 million available and we have to apply for the grant to recoup the money the approximate cost for this is $204,000 for equipping them with the body worn cameras,” Township Clerk Sabina Martin said.
Council President Craig Wallis noted “this is us trying to get ahead of the curve as the state has mandated that we have to have body cameras by June 1. We don’t know how much (funding) they’ll give us but we do have to have the cameras and we have to put the paperwork in now to see what we can get from the state.
“The state makes it a mandate and not really thinking about the funding that well. Actually, I think it gets a little worse than that. I think them making decisions for us as if we are not capable of doing this is sort of offensive to me,” Wallis added.
