Naperville approves $2.3 million for police cameras

The Naperville City Council has approved nearly $2.3 million over five years to fund the police department's use of body-worn and in-car camera systems.

The action was taken this week after the city's officers tested systems last fall from three companies. With plans of implementing the body-worn cameras in the next few months and the in-car cameras in the second half of this year, the city chose Axon - currently used by 161 Illinois departments - as its vendor.

Police Chief Jason Arres has said the system will be in place well before a state mandate for body-warn cameras takes effect in January 2023 for cities the size of Naperville.

The first year's cost of $483,000 is part of the 2022 city budget. The contract includes cloud-based data storage, an application for working with the data and installation and support of the system.