FRANKLIN — The Franklin Police Department will soon have body and dash cameras for the first time.
Installation is already underway to put two cameras in every police car and officers are going through four hours of training with their new body cameras.
"It changes the way we as officers think because not only the officer being filmed but the person you are having interaction with so, now we are on our best behavior," Chief Kirby Cochran said.
Deployment of the cameras was initially set for this past December but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The investment totaling more than $500,000 is part of a five-year contract.
Capt. Scott Carter said this system is fully automatic, so when an officer is assigned to a call, the cameras turn on.
"If for some reason he's not on call and he sees somebody in need and runs to that person, the running will activate the camera," Carter said.
The camera's ability to provide global positioning is also seen as a safety tool for the department's 53 officers.
"When we know when an officer is down from injury or something other, we are going to get an alert," Cochran said. "The officers around them are going to get that alert. You can't put a price on that."
The video will also be used for training purposes and capture evidence during calls.
"Now that technology has come forward, I see this as the future of policing," Carter said.
The department is aiming to have the cameras up and running by March 1.
