The Unified Police Department may discontinue use of body cameras, with administrators pointing to high costs for digital video storage and relatively few officer encounters where footage has been used by investigators.
“I’m torn,” said Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera on Thursday, after the department’s governing board tabled the issue for future budget discussions. “If the public’s willing to pay to help keep those, I’m supportive of that. But ... we’re fighting for every cent in law enforcement. So it’s tough.”
UPD outfitted 125 of its 410 officers with body cameras in 2017, with the help of a grant that expires later this year, Rivera said.