The San Antonio City Council overwhelming approved today a $16.6 million contract with TASER International to provide the San Antonio Police Department with 2,200 body cameras.
Police Chief William McManus says a final decision has not been made regarding specifically who will get the cameras.
"The thought was to issue them to sergeants and officers," McManus said. "We had further discussion on that, moving it up higher in the rank structure.”
The contract includes hardware, video storage requirements and training. The city budget already includes eight civilian positions at the police department for video data management and for dealing with open records requests.
The council also authorized the use of eminent domain for the improvement of Callaghan Road between Loop 410 and Bandera Road. Forty-three parcels of privately-owned real property will be acquired to expand that portion of Callaghan Road to two lanes in each direction.
"Before we start the construction we usually have a meeting with the neighborhood to introduce our team contractor and provide them contact information,” said Razi Hosseini, assistant director of transportation and capital improvements.
The project begins in January and will be completed by summer of 2017.
