CHICAGO — Body cameras are coming to seven more police districts across the city, now including Downtown and the Near North Side.
Officers in the Central, Near North, Englewood, Harrison, Chicago Lawn, Grand Crossing, and Grand Central districts will begin wearing the cameras this fall, police said Sunday night.
The districts were chosen based on 911 calls, police activity and recommendations from top Chicago Police commanders, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a statement. The new expansion is part of a big push to outfit every Chicago police officer with a body camera by the end of 2018.
"Over the next 24 months, CPD will make significant investments and strategy enhancements to make our neighborhoods safer," Johnson said.
The expansion will cover 3,000 more officers, and boost the number of police districts with body cameras to 15, out of 22 total. The police department rolled out body cameras in eight districts earlier this year after a trial run in Logan Square and Wicker Park.
Last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel cited body cameras as a key cog in his plan to curb violence and restore trust between police and residents in the city's neighborhoods.
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The expansion was announced after a flurry of high-profile crimes Downtown, including a shooting Saturday night near the Art Institute of Chicago that left a man dead.
Police departments across the country have introduced body cameras in recent years amid a torrent of shootings involving police and unarmed people. The program here got its first real test when footage of the fatal police shooting of Paul O'Neal was released last month.
Johnson found no evidence of "intentional misconduct" then even though one officer's camera was turned off during the shooting. Johnson placed three officers involved on desk duty.
Police have pegged the expansion's cost at $8 million.
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