Pa. state troopers in Philly, Montco and Delco now wearing bodycams, agency says

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- All Pennsylvania State Police troopers who patrol in Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties are now outfitted with body cameras and enhanced video recorders in their patrol vehicles, the agency announced Monday.

The news comes as PSP rolls out body-worn cameras to all troops across the state.

In 2022, the agency entered into a contract with Axon , a company that sells body cameras, Commissioner Col. Christian Paris said in a state Appropriations Committee hearing last month . Starting in 2023, PSP began rolling out body cameras, starting with one station in Cumberland County.

As of April 29 troopers across five of the force's 16 troops are now wearing body cameras, according to a news release.

While the cost was initially estimated at $4.4 million a year, Paris told legislators that technological and logistical "hurdles" like upgrading patrol vehicles' bandwidth to transmit data to the cloud and getting good coverage across the state's 45,000 square miles added to the cost. It's now expected to cost $10 million a year, he said in the March 4 hearing.

"The issues that we've had have been caused by logistics and making the IT work," Paris told Philadelphia Rep. Ben Waxman.

Lt. Col. George Bivens, who many saw on camera amid frequent news conferences on the search for escaped prisoner Danelo Cavalcante , said in the hearing that Pennsylvania State Police welcome the proliferation of body cameras.

"Operationally, it's certainly a benefit because it's one more way of documenting what has occurred out there. So we welcome it," said Bivens, PSP's deputy commissioner of operations.

"What it does is it helps preserve all sides of the story," Bivens continued. "Now there's always additional information to be collected, but we think it will be very useful and will provide even more transparency going forward."

At the time of the hearing, Celena Morrison-McLean, head of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs, had just been pulled over by a Pennsylvania state trooper and threatened a lawsuit alleging racial bias related to the stop on I-76.

Video recorded by Morrison-McLean showed a trooper pointing his gun at Darius McLean and her husband, who pulled over behind the trooper after his wife was stopped.

That trooper had not been outfitted with a body camera, as the rollout had not yet taken place. But it set an urgent context to the March hearing, and representatives asked for cameras to be added to Troop K, the division that patrols Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties, as soon as possible.

"Within 3-4 weeks, you will see them, and a few weeks after that, they should all be wearing them," Bivens told Waxman.

This week, representatives in the Pennsylvania House applauded the rollout of body cameras to troopers.

"Transparency is critical in officer-involved incidents. The cameras now worn by Troop K and used in their vehicles will assist in that transparency and create accountability in the unfortunate use of force," Democratic state Rep. Morgan Cephas, who leads the Philadelphia delegation, said in a statement Monday.

"When it comes to police-community interactions, we must ensure there is trust on both sides," Waxman added in a statement. "We have seen far too many instances in recent years of police arrests where there is uncertainty of what happened and who was in the wrong. This step being taken by Troop K will greatly help in providing clarity and keeping the trust between police and the communities they serve."

State police cruisers have had mobile video recorders since about 2004, but the upgraded recorders "provide a wider view of events," PSP said in a news release.

Pennsylvania State Police expects all troops across the state to have body cameras by the end of the first quarter of 2025.