Cambridge Police Department Commits to Adopting Body Cameras in FY25

Cambridge Police Commissioner Christine A. Elow committed to implementing body cameras across the department within the 2025 fiscal year during a Cambridge City Council Finance Committee hearing Tuesday — though some councilors urged Elow to quicken the implementation.

Elow appeared before the city’s finance committee to present the department’s proposed $80.9 million budget for FY25. The budget — a $2.5 million increase from FY24 — says implementing the body-worn cameras is a key initiative for the force.

“We are anticipated to go live — it’s not going to be a pilot, we’re looking for a full implementation — sometime in fiscal year 2025,” Elow said.

But City Councillor Burhan Azeem said it was not quick enough, pointing out that police forces in some neighboring cities have already begun to use the technology.

“I would just love for this to move a little bit faster,“ Azeem said. “It’s been a very long time since we passed this, and I think that body cameras in my mind were like the simplest, most straightforward thing we could have done.”

Elow said the main obstacle preventing a speedier implementation was the “long processes of negotiation” with the police union to draft the policy, adding that negotiations are “going well”.

“We are bargaining in good faith — the union is at the table,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any resistance on any part.”

But even when the policy has been finalized and the cameras have been procured, Superintendent Frederick Cabral said, the department does not plan to immediately implement them across the force.

“It doesn’t take long once the equipment is procured, but we’re not going to give it to 200 officers at one time, we’re going to train them incrementally,” Cabral said. “We need to make sure that they know how to use the equipment and then situational training on when to use the equipment.”

CPD Director of Planning, Budget, and Personnel Manisha Tibrewal said she anticipates the department will initially spend $800,000 to procure the body camera equipment. The majority of the 2025 budget increase will go towards increasing salaries and benefits for current officers.

The City Council passed a policy order demanding CPD implement body cameras in March 2023, following widespread community outrage over the police killing of 20-year-old Sayed Faisal. Since then, the Police Executive Research Forum reviewed the department and wrote that they “commend” the department’s efforts to implement the technology.

City Councillor Patricia M. “Patty” Nolan ’80 said CPD should take Boston Police Department’s existing body camera policy as a goal.

“This helps the entire community, this helps the police department and the people in it,” she said. “There are a number of our peer communities who have gone forward without any additional cost to the department — other than the cost of the equipment.”

During the meeting, Elow also reported that the department is struggling to reach full staffing numbers, telling the Council that around 30 officers would need to be hired to reach staffing potential.

There are only nine current officers in the police academy – three of which left to go to the fire department or another police department.

“We’re really digging deep, we have exhausted all of our lateral opportunities,” Elow said.

—Staff writer Sally E. Edwards can be reached at sally.edwards@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @sallyedwards04 or on Threads @sally_edwards06.

—Staff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at asher.montgomery@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.