Body-Worn Camera Program Expansion

The Panama City Police Department (PCPD) is applying for the BJA FY 21 Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Grant to expand an existing BWC program.  PCPD is authorized for 104 sworn officers and currently has 97 sworn officers.  Of those 97 officers, 90 officers are at the rank of Lieutenant or below and have direct daily contact with citizens.  In March 2021, PCPD implemented an initial BWC program and deployed 66 BWCs into the field.  The program included the lease and deployment of all necessary supporting equipment and digital evidence media (DEM) storage capabilities.  Due to fiscal constraints, PCPD was unable to fund the entire program to incorporate all officers.  PCPD is requesting $40,800 in financial assistance to add 24 BWCs to the program.  They intend to match federal funding by leasing additional necessary BWC equipment, storage capacity, mandatory conference travel and offsetting our Body Worn Camera Specialist’s salary to complete required DEM redaction and public records support.

PCPD serves a population of approximately 35,000 residents and 21.6% of those residents live below the poverty line.  This qualifies as a “high-poverty” area according to the 2013-2017, 5-year data series from the Census Bureau[1].  PCPD requests priority consideration based on the high poverty area and that a fully capable BWC program enhances OJP priorities.    PCPD also hopes a full BWC program will increase officer safety, decrease use of force incidents and bolster officer professionalism and service.
1] Panama City Narrative Profile. (2013-2017). https://www.census.gov/acs/www/data/data-tables-and-tools/narrative-pro…