This report provides summary descriptions of the funding and technical assistance resources that the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) offers to State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies as they consider purchasing or developing policies and procedures for body-worn cameras (BWCs).
For FY 2015, BJA is offering a Body-Worn Camera Pilot Implementation Program. This is a $19 million competitive pilot partnership program for the purchase of BWCs, training, and other technical assistance, as well as $1 million for the development of evaluation and survey tools to study best practices regarding the impacts of BWCs. In addition, BJA will provide up to $2 million to establish on-demand BWC training and technical assistance through a competitive process. In addition, the FY 2015 Smart Policing Initiative Body-Worn Camera Problem-Solving Demonstration Program will provide up to $2 million to law enforcement agencies interested in partnering with a research team to examine the impact of the implementation of BWCs on citizen complaints, the process and outcome of internal departmental investigations, privacy issues, community relations, and the cost-benefit of BWCs. In May 2015, BJA also launched a Body-Worn Camera Toolkit online.